USAGraduate.com announced a second online competition for students in grades 4-12 focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). 

The program began January 12 and will be available to all Central New York and Southern Tier students.

The competition is designed to be a fun way to stimulate interest in STEM and engage students in various STEM topics to help them understand their practical applications.  Each week participating students will be challenged with STEM related quiz questions and will select the answer from a multiple choice format to demonstrate their understanding of the topic.  They will also be able to use gaming features (e.g. a hint, lifeline, or double down option) to add some fun to the program.  Students who complete the quiz will be eligible to win free laptop computers, iPods and other prizes.  There is no cost to students and the website is completely safe and secure.

The competition will run for seven weeks from January 12 to March 8 and then be immediately followed by an eight week program which will run from March 9 to May 8.  There are three grade levels for participants: elementary, middle and high school.  The questions have been prepared by NYS certified science and math teachers to be grade appropriate and curriculum relevant.  Students register online at www.usagraduate.com.  Mat Zlomek, Project Manager, explained that parallel programs are also being run in the Albany/Capital Region and Poughkeepsie/Mid Hudson Region. This project is a joint partnership with the Syracuse City School District, Binghamton City School District, Lyncourt Union Free School District, Niskayuna Central School District, Ballston Spa Central School District, Lake George Central School District, Marlboro Central School District, Highland Central School District, Our Lady of Lourdes High School in Poughkeepsie, MOST, Marist College, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, MACNY, and others.

USAGraduate.com is affiliated with The Graduate, an online civics awareness competition for primary and secondary students in Ireland.  The program in Ireland, which has been running for the past seven years, attracts over 30,000 student participants each week.

For more information contact Mat Zlomek at matzlomek@earthlink.net.