![\"Participants](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/REG-L-ScienceOlympiad1659.jpg\")
Participants take a rocks and minerals test during the Berks County Science Olympiad at Kutztown University on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\nAubrey Ridge and Payton Klein were focused, working slowly and carefully.<\/p>\n
They attached their creation, a cantilevered truss structure made of lightweight wood and glue, to a vertical wood board. Then they hooked a metal chain onto the opposite end and secured that chain to a bucket hanging below.<\/p>\n
Bit by bit, they filled the bucket with sand. As the seconds ticked by, the weight grew and grew.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not moving yet,\u201d Ridge, a 17-year-old senior at Exeter High School, said in a surprised voice. \u201cIt\u2019s probably just going to shatter.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the sand continued to fill the bucket, signs of stress did, eventually, appear.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can hear it,\u201d said Klein, also a 17-year-old Exeter senior.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I can hear it creaking,\u201d Ridge concurred.<\/p>\n
A moment later, with a loud crack and thud, the structure came down. But the girls weren\u2019t disappointed.<\/p>\n
Participants take a rocks and minerals test during the Berks County Science Olympiad at Kutztown University on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n
Their creation had held more than 8,000 grams, making it the most successful tested so far. They were, at least for the moment, in first place in the boomilever category at the Berks County Science Olympiad at Kutztown University.<\/p>\n
The Olympiad brought together students from 19 high schools in Berks and beyond to test their scientific acumen in a variety of STEM-related events, showcasing their knowledge and skills in science, technology, engineering and math.<\/p>\n
The contest was an invitational, meant to prepare students for competitions at the regional, state and national level.<\/p>\n
The Olympiad is old hat for Ridge and Klein, having competed in it each year since they were in eighth grade, but they still look forward to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really like the building events,\u201d Ridge said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a lot of exposure to architecture and building in high school.\u201d<\/p>\n
Klein said she enjoys rubbing shoulders with other teens who share her interests.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like the environment of it all,\u201d she said. \u201cI like seeing people from other schools and seeing what they\u2019re up to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ridge and Klein competed in four events on Thursday. They said preparing was a significant endeavor \u2014 between pre-building projects and studying the topics that were to be tested.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a lot deeper than you\u2019d think,\u201d Klein said. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of in-depth stuff, it\u2019s much deeper than just the basics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unlike Ridge and Klein, Lucas Scheck and Tessa Fosko didn\u2019t have the same level of preparation time. The Boyertown High School students were each competing in the Olympiad for the first time and came to it kind of late.<\/p>\n
![\"Lucas](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/REG-L-ScienceOlympiad1660.jpg\")
Lucas Scheck, 17, Bella Cooper, 15, and Tessa Sosko, 15, all from Boyertown High School, prepare their hovercraft for competition during the Berks County Science Olympiad at Kutztown University on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n
Scheck said he was looking for a STEM-related extracurricular activity to bolster his resume for college and discovered an opportunity on Boyertown\u2019s Olympiad team. Joining at the 11th hour, he offered to fill any open slots.<\/p>\n
That led him to competing in four events, not all of which he had expertise in.<\/p>\n
Like the rocks and minerals event, which consisted of a written test he knew very few answers to. The same was true for Fosko, who signed up for the team at the suggestion of friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of harder than I thought it would be \u2014 I\u2019m not going to lie,\u201d the 15-year-old sophomore said. \u201cBut the test was kind of fun. I didn\u2019t know anything on it so there was no pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scheck and Fosko were part of a team in the hovercraft event. They had slightly different perceptions on how that one would go.<\/p>\n
Scheck seemed excited about the craft, built with Styrofoam and personal fans bought at Target.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully, it will fly, we will see,\u201d the 17-year-old junior said.<\/p>\n
Fosko doubted that would be the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hovercraft has been kind of discouraging,\u201d she said, shaking her head and smiling wryly. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aubrey Ridge and Payton Klein were focused, working slowly and carefully. They attached their creation, a cantilevered truss…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,227,182,139,28,128,130,129,706],"class_list":{"0":"post-81558","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-berks-county","9":"tag-education","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-reading-city","14":"tag-reading-city-headlines","15":"tag-reading-city-news","16":"tag-top-stories-reg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}