Although Grand Valley State University has previously hosted and attracted wide audiences for the Region 12 Michigan Science Olympiad and FIRST Robotics Competition, this year will be its first hosting both on the same day.

On March 23, the Science Olympiad will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Kelly Family Sports Center, while the Robotics Competition will occur from 8 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Fieldhouse Arena.

The regional science competition, which GVSU will host for the 29th year, will bring in students from about 70 middle schools and high schools in Kent and Ottawa counties. The students will showcase their talents in biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, computers and technology, and the other events will center on statistics in honor of the International Year of Statistics.

The robotics competition sponsored by the Padnos College of Engineering and Computing, will bring to campus about 1,000 high school students on 41 teams. The teams spent six weeks constructing robots that they will display at the event.

Both events are free and open to the public.

For more information about the Science Olympiad, visit www.gvsu.edu/mso-r12. To learn more about the robotics competition, visit www.firstinmichigan.org.

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