23-04-2025
Homeschool team wins state Science Olympiad Tournament
(COLORADO SPRINGS) — A homeschool group in Colorado Springs has won the state title in a Science Olympiad tournament for both middle and high school.
The Science Olympiad is a nationwide STEM competition, providing standards-based challenges to 6,600 teams at 425 tournaments in all 50 states. This latest competition was on April 5 at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS), and Homeschool Science Colorado took home the gold.
'I feel ecstatic about it,' said Lydia Wickerham, who is in Division C of the Science Olympiad. 'None of us were really expecting it this year.'
Cindy Puhek, head coach of the homeschool team, said the teams won the tournament against 30 other teams in each division that represented schools from all across the state. This is the third time the high school division has won the title, but the first time for the middle school division since 2021.
'It really is teamwork,' Puhek said. 'You have to do well across all 23 events to win, so you have to have everybody committed.'
While most students are already accustomed to deadlines and working with others, Puhek said this is a challenge that homeschool students in general must overcome.
'Having hard and set deadlines, because within homeschool, sometimes we can let things slide, but a tournament is a tournament and that deadline is hard and fast,' Puhek said. 'The soft skills, being able to work as part of a team and work with partners, I think, is critical.'
The students said they have created not only friendships to last a lifetime, but built those skills to give them a leg-up in life as well.
'Meeting new people, creating a network of young scientists and preparing me for my future in college,' Wickerham said.
Homeschool Science Colorado will represent the state of Colorado at the National Science Olympiad Tournament at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on May 23-24.
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