Announcements

  • Join the club!

    Make friends, learn cool stuff, show off your skills, and have fun.

    Science Olympiad is open to any 6th-9th grade MCPS student, including area  homeschool students!

     

    A little History

    The MCPS Science Olympiad team was created in the 2020-2021 school year. The team worked together virtually to learn about their events, problem solve, and compete against 19 other schools at the 2021 Virginia Science Olympiad Leibniz Regional for Division B.

    The tournament involved events that challenged the teams' academic knowledge, engineering and design, analytical analysis, reasoning skills, and collaborative ability.

    Popular Events

    • Life, Personal & Social Science
      • Disease Detectives
        • Students use their investigative skills in the scientific study of disease, injury, health, and disability in populations or groups of people. Event partners study epidemiology, food borne illnesses, disease outbreaks, and more!
    • Earth and Space Science
      • Rocks and Minerals
        • Students demonstrate their knowledge of rocks and minerals utilizing hands on testing, basic knowledge, and more!
    • Physical Science & Chemistry
      • Crime Busters
        • Students are given a scenario, a collection of evidence, and possible suspects, and students perform a series of tests. The test results, along with other evidence will be used to solve a crime!
    • Technology & Engineering
      • Bridge
        • Students work in teams to design and build a bridge (structure) that meets specific requirements to achieve the highest structural efficiency. 
    • Inquiry & Nature of Science
      • Codebusters
        • Teams will crypt analyze and decode encrypted messages using cryptanalysis techniques for historical and modern advanced ciphers. 

    For more information about Science Olympiad, you can visit the National Science Olympiad webpage and the Virginia Science Olympiad webpage. You can also contact Ms. Preidis at Mayfield or Ms. Hancey at Metz, their contact information is below. 

    If you are a community member or an Osborne high school student that would like to volunteer your knowledge and/or expertise, please contact Mrs. Preidis. We are always looking to add more community members as event-specific coaches, chaperones, and mentors.

Q & A

  • Who can participate in Science Olympiad?

    Posted by:

    Any 6th-9th grade student from Manassas City Public Schools, OR are homeschooled in the city, are able to participate. 

    ¡Próximamente traducción al español!
    Comments (-1)

  • When does the season start and end?

    Posted by:

    The season will begin mid-September. The season usually ends the last week of March. The season can run until the end of April, depending on tournament results.

    The first part of the season is preparing for local and regional tournaments. Then we compete after Winter Break. After our competition, if we are selected to move on, we will work to compete in the State tournament.

    If our team ends at the Regional tournament level, we work on preparing for the next season, fixing our projects, and hosting Family Science Night.  

    ¡Próximamente traducción al español!
    Comments (-1)

  • What are the team fees?

    Posted by:

    The fee is $20 to participate. This helps cover the cost of the uniform and incidentals. 

    ¡Próximamente traducción al español!
    Comments (-1)

  • What are the requirements to be on the team?

    Posted by:

    The only requirements are personal skills that will allow you to be successful. Team members must be able to follow directions, be independent, responsible, dedicated, timely, detail oriented, and collaborative.

    Students should have a strong desire to learn science.

    These skills are imperative for the success of our team as a whole, because students will be working in partners or small groups, actively researching event(s) information on their own (with support), learning the rules for their event(s) (with support from coaches), and will be traveling to and from different event rooms or buildings (if we are in person). 

    ¡Próximamente traducción al español!
    Comments (-1)
more
 

Upcoming Events

About the Coaches

Phone: 571-377-6600 x 6705

Email:

Degrees and Certifications:

B.S. Biology, Ferris State University M.S. Elementary Education (Integrated Science Endorsement for 6-8), Grand Valley State University M.S. Instruction & Curriculum, Grand Valley State University Praxis ESOL Endorsement

Mrs. Ann Preidis

Hello! My name is Ann Preidis. I teach 6th grade Language Arts and Social Studies at Mayfield Intermediate. I coach the JV Volleyball team at Metz, and I also coach the Science Olympiad team. This is my third year coaching Science Olympiad (2nd for Manassas) and I am very excited to start another season! I specialize in coaching the Life, Personal & Social Science category, and Earth and Space Science category. 

I am a Michigan native. In my free time, I enjoy hiking, fishing, camping, reading, making art, playing team sports, and spending quality TV time with my husband and son. We have a dog and a cat. 

Phone: 571-377-6984

Email:

Degrees and Certifications:

B.S. with Honors, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Commonwealth Scholar) Doctoral Candidate in Biological Chemistry, Penn State University, NIH Fellow). Algebra 1 Certified Chemistry Certified (Praxis Excellence Award)

Ms. Carey Hancey

Hello! I come to Manassas City Public Schools to give back to the district that laid my academic foundation. It is true that I attended Baldwin Elementary School, Dean Middle School (yes, it was once a middle school!), and Osbourn High School. From there, I went to Virginia Tech.

I have a bachelor's degree in chemistry and biochemistry with a minor in biology from Virginia Tech (Distinct Honors, Commonwealth Scholar). I continued my education for six years as a doctoral candidate in biological chemistry at Penn State University. At Penn State I taught chemistry lab while researching enzymology and kinetics. This project was a collaborative effort with Stanford University and the NIH.

I truly have an immense passion for the sciences and math. I have instructed many gifted students in both subjects. In doing so, I know the importance of critical thinking skills and the ability to be innovative.

I am very excited to be able to lead the IMS program and share my expertise in both content and research with these talented students.

When I am not coaching or instructing, I enjoy college football (GO HOKIES!!!), cooking, drumming, traveling, and strength training.