March 4, 2020: Academic Chemistry Olympiad at the Faculty of Sciences
Academic Chemistry Olympiad at the Faculty of Sciences
On Wednesday, March 4, the academic chemistry competition took place
Congratulations to Robin CURINIER from Lycée Joffre, who will represent the Montpellier School District at the National Chemistry Olympiad.The national competition will take place on April1 and2, 2020,at Arsonval High School(Saint-Maur-des-Fossés) and will conclude with an awards ceremony on April 3.
The Chemistry Olympiad has been organized since 1984 by the Union of Chemical Industries (UIC)—now known as France Chimie—the Ministry of National Education, Higher Education, and Research, the French Chemical Society, and the Union of Physics and Chemistry Teachers. Each year, the competition attracts more than 2,000 participants who compete in various school districts on the theme “Chemistry in the City.”
The goal of this national competition is to spark students’ interest in chemistry and highlight the discipline’s contribution to the advancement of science and technology. It also fosters connections between the educational community and the professional chemistry sector by reminding students that chemistry is a dynamic science practiced in research laboratories.
The science competition, for students in their final year of high school in the S and STL tracks
We are organizing the academic finals at the Faculty of Sciences. We initially selected 12 finalists (out of 72 original candidates).
These students come from seven high schools in the region: Marc Bloch High School in Sérignan, Auguste Loubatières High School in Agde, Jean Mermoz High School and Joffre High School in Montpellier, Emmanuel d’Alzon High School in Nîmes, Jean Vilar High School in Villeneuve-lez-Avignon, and François Arago High School in Perpignan.
The final will be organized as follows:
=> In the morning, the twelve finalists will compete individually in two practical challenges: completing a lab notebook and conducting experiments under real-world conditions.
=> The afternoon will be devoted to a collaborative project (four teams of three students) involving a document analysis with a questionnaire, followed by a presentation summarizing their work to a panel of judges. The academy’s winner will compete in the national finals in Paris in April 2020.
At the same time, students who were not selected for the oral exams will be able to participate in workshops in groups of 10 (SEM—scanning electron microscopy—observations, a tour of the NMR—nuclear magnetic resonance—facility, “magic chemistry” experiments, and laboratory tours—IEM & ENSCM).
The afternoon will be devoted to presentations and the awards ceremony
