This past Saturday, we watched our future science and technology leaders shine at the 2025 Northwest New Mexico Science Olympiad. Dozens of middle and high school students from the region competed in 23 events, showcasing their talent and teamwork at Farmington High School.
Mark February 22, 2025, on your calendars for the state competition, which will take place at New Mexico Tech in Socorro. This year, all schools qualify one team to go to the state.
Science Olympiad events are an exciting showcase of creativity, teamwork, and innovation. Students launch projectiles, build soaring helicopters, and design efficient towers, while others explore anatomy, investigate diseases, or solve mysteries in crime and climate. Earth and space adventures, like studying fossils and mapping the stars, ignite curiosity, while challenges in physics, problem-solving, and chemistry test precision and imagination.
We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to the incredible staff and volunteers who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make this weekend’s event a success:
Tournament Director: Dr. Kelly Stone
Score Master: Lisa Felix
FHS Principal: Rocky Torres
Enrichment Services Coordinator: Michelle Thur
Hospitality: Modesto Vigil, Raymond White, and Lyn White
A huge thank you also to our dedicated event supervisors and coaches, whose hard work and expertise ensured an unforgettable experience for all the students: Amy John, David Rogers, Eric Ching, Jeff Raichel, Katelyn Saylor, Katrina Bryant, Kelly Stone, Lyn White, Rio Sessions, Shay Colburn, Winona Patterson, Willow Moellenbrock, Brittany Bird, Don Linskins, Gretchen Greer, Jennifer Carlson, Jennifer Murphy, Kelly Evers, Lisa Felix, Michael Newlun, Rodney Bird, and Tori Finlay. Your time, energy, and passion made this event truly extraordinary!
Here are the winners for each event:
Air Trajectory: In this event, teams design, construct, and calibrate a single device capable of launching projectiles onto a target and collect data regarding device parameters and performance.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Mesa View Middle School
2nd Place: Hermosa Middle School
3rd Place: Kirtland Middle School
High School Division:
1st Place: Farmington High School
Anatomy & Physiology: In this event, participants assess their understanding of the anatomy and physiology for the human Integumentary, Muscular, and Skeletal systems.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Kirtland Middle School (Team 1)
2nd Place: Kirtland Middle School (Team 2)
3rd Place: Mesa View Middle School
High School Division:
1st Place: San Juan College High School
2nd Place: Farmington High School
Astronomy: In this event, teams demonstrate an understanding of Stellar Evolution: Star Formation and Exoplanets.
High School Division:
1st Place: Farmington High School
2nd Place: San Juan College High School
Bungee Drop: In this event, each team designs one elastic cord to conduct two separate drops at a given height and attempts to get a drop mass, placed in a bottle, as close as possible to, but without touching, a landing surface.
High School Division:
1st Place: Farmington High School
2nd Place: San Juan College High School
Chem Lab: In this event, teams complete one or more tasks and answer a series of questions involving the science processes of chemistry focused in the areas of Periodicity and Equilibrium.
High School Division:
1st Place: San Juan College High School
2nd Place: Farmington High School
Codebusters: In this event, teams cryptanalyze and decode encrypted messages using cryptanalysis techniques for historical and modern advanced ciphers.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Mesa View Middle School
2nd Place: Tsé Bit A'í Middle School
3rd Place: Kirtland Middle School
High School Division:
1st Place: Farmington High School
2nd Place: San Juan College High School
Crime Busters: In this event, given a scenario, a collection of evidence, and possible suspects, students perform a series of tests. The test results along with other evidence will be used to solve a crime.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Kirtland Middle School (Team 1)
2nd Place: Tsé Bit A'í Middle School
3rd Place: Kirtland Middle School (Team 2)
Disease Detectives: In this event, participants use their investigative skills in the scientific study of disease, injury, health, and disability in populations or groups of people.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Mesa View Middle School
2nd Place: Hermosa Middle School
3rd Place: Tsé Bit A'í Middle School
High School Division:
1st Place: San Juan College High School
2nd Place: Farmington High School
Dynamic Planet: In this event, participants demonstrate an understanding of the large-scale processes affecting the structure of Earth’s crust.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Hermosa Middle School
2nd Place: Kirtland Middle School
3rd Place: Mesa View Middle School
High School Division:
1st Place: San Juan College High School
2nd Place: Farmington High School
Ecology: In this event, participants answer questions involving content knowledge and process skills in the area of ecology and adaptations in featured North American biomes.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Mesa View Middle School
2nd Place: Hermosa Middle School
3rd Place: Kirtland Middle School
High School Division:
1st Place: Farmington High School
2nd Place: San Juan College High School
Electric Vehicle: Teams must design, build, and test one vehicle that uses electrical energy as its sole means of propulsion to travel as quickly as possible.
High School Division:
1st Place: Farmington High School
2nd Place: San Juan College High School
Entomology: In this event, students are asked to identify insects and select immature insects by order and family, answer questions about insects, and use or construct a dichotomous key.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Kirtland Middle School (Team 2)
2nd Place: Kirtland Middle School (Team 1)
3rd Place: Tsé Bit A'í Middle School
High School Division:
1st Place: San Juan College High School
2nd Place: Farmington High School
Experimental Design: This event determines the participant’s ability to design, conduct, and report the findings of an experiment entirely on-site.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Hermosa Middle School
2nd Place: Kirtland Middle School (KMS 1)
3rd Place: Kirtland Middle School (KMS 2)
High School Division:
1st Place: Farmington High School
2nd Place: San Juan College High School
Forensics: In this event, given a scenario and some possible suspects, students will perform a series of tests. These tests, along with other evidence or test results, will be used to solve a crime.
High School Division:
1st Place: San Juan College High School
2nd Place: Farmington High School
Fossils: In this event, teams identify and classify fossils and demonstrate their knowledge of ancient life. Tasks are related to the interpretation of past environments and ecosystems, adaptations, evolutionary relationships, and the use of fossils in dating and correlating rock units.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Mesa View Middle School
2nd Place: Kirtland Middle School
3rd Place: Tsé Bit A'í Middle School
High School Division:
1st Place: San Juan College High School (Gold)
2nd Place: Farmington High School
3rd Place: San Juan College High School (Purple)
Geologic Mapping: In this event, teams demonstrate understanding in the construction and use of topographic maps, geologic maps, and cross sections, and their use in forming interpretations regarding subsurface structures and past depositional environments on Earth and other planetary bodies.
High School Division:
1st Place: Farmington High School
2nd Place: San Juan College High School
Helicopter: In this event, teams construct, collect data on test flights, and analyze and optimize a free-flight rubber-powered helicopter to achieve maximum time aloft.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Mesa View Middle School
High School Division:
1st Place: Farmington High School
Materials Science: In this event, teams complete lab activities and answer a series of questions related to the materials science of ceramics with an emphasis on chemical and crystalline structure, and behavior.
High School Division:
1st Place: Farmington High School
2nd Place: San Juan College High School
Meteorology: In this event, participants use scientific process skills involving qualitative and quantitative analyses to demonstrate an understanding of the factors that influence world climate and climate change through the interpretation of climatological data, graphs, charts and images.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Kirtland Middle School
2nd Place: Hermosa Middle School
3rd Place: Mesa View Middle School
Metric Mastery: In this event, teams estimate and then measure properties of identical objects including mass, area, volume, density, force, distance, time, and temperature. Teams also perform metric unit conversions.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Hermosa Middle School
2nd Place: Kirtland Middle School
3rd Place: Tsé Bit A'í Middle School
Microbe Mission: In this event, teams answer questions, solve problems, and analyze data pertaining to microbes.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Hermosa Middle School
2nd Place: Kirtland Middle School
3rd Place: Mesa View Middle School
High School Division:
1st Place: San Juan College
2nd Place: Farmington High School
Mission Possible: In this event, participants design, build, test, and document a Rube Goldberg-like Device that completes the required Start and Final Actions through a series of specific actions.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Tsé Bit A'í Middle School
2nd Place: Kirtland Middle School
Optics: In this event, teams participate in an activity involving positioning mirrors to direct a laser beam toward a target and are tested on their knowledge of geometric and physical optics.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Tsé Bit A'í Middle School (Red Team)
2nd Place: Hermosa Middle School
3rd Place: Tsé Bit A'í Middle School (Blue Team)
High School Division:
1st Place: San Juan College High School
2nd Place: Farmington High School
Potions & Poisons: This event is about the chemical properties and effects of specified toxic and therapeutic chemical substances, with a focus on household and environmental toxins or poisons.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Kirtland Middle School
2nd Place: Tsé Bit A'í Middle School
3rd Place: Hermosa Middle School
Reach for the Stars: In this event, participants demonstrate an understanding of late-stage stellar evolution and stellar remnants and their observation across the electromagnetic spectrum.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Tsé Bit A'í Middle School (Red Team)
2nd Place: Tsé Bit A'í Middle School (Blue Team)
3rd Place: Hermosa Middle School
Road Scholar: In this event, participants answer interpretive questions that may use one or more state highway maps, USGS topographic maps, Internet-generated maps, a road atlas, or satellite/aerial images.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Hermosa Middle School
2nd Place: Kirtland Middle School
3rd Place: Mesa View Middle School
Robot Tour: In this event, teams design, build, program, and test one Robotic Vehicle to navigate a track to reach a target at a set amount of time as accurately and efficiently as possible.
High School Division:
1st Place: San Juan College High School
2nd Place: Farmington High School
Scrambler: In this event, teams design, build, and test a mechanical device, that uses the energy from a falling mass to transport an egg along a track as quickly as possible and stop as close to the center of a Terminal Barrier without breaking the egg.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Kirtland Middle School
2nd Place: Mesa View Middle School
Tower: In this event, teams design and build a tower meeting the requirements specified in these rules to achieve the highest structural efficiency.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Hermosa Middle School
2nd Place: Mesa View Middle School
3rd Place: Kirtland Middle School
High School Division:
1st Place: San Juan College High School (Gold)
2nd Place: Farmington High School
3rd Place: San Juan College High School (Purple)
Wind Power: In this event, teams construct a blade assembly device that is designed to capture wind power and complete a written test on the principles of alternative energy.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Tsé Bit A'í Middle School
2nd Place: Mesa View Middle School
3rd Place: Kirtland Middle School
High School Division:
1st Place: Farmington High School
2nd Place: San Juan College High School
Write It Do It: In this event, one participant writes a description of an object and how to build it. The other participant will attempt to construct the object from this description.
Middle School Division:
1st Place: Kirtland Middle School
2nd Place: Hermosa Middle School
3rd Place: Mesa View Middle School
High School Division:
1st Place: San Juan College High School
2nd Place: Farmington High School
Overall Team Results Middle School Division
1st Place: Mesa View Middle School, under the direction of Jennifer Carlson
2nd Place: Hermosa Middle School, under the direction of Brittany Bird
3rd Place: Kirtland Middle School, under the direction of Don Linskins
4th Place: Tse Bit Ai Middle School, under the direction of Amy John
Overall Team Results High School Division
1st Place: Farmington High School, under the direction of Tori Finlay
2nd Place: San Juan College High School, under the direction of David Rogers