Photo Provided Education and Workforce Development Manager Shawn Toy visits schools to share educational materials and now will be challenging students to sign up for the STEM trivia challenge, a partnership between OVAC and Ohio Natural Energy Institute to educate students about the STEM fields.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — High school students across the Ohio Valley can get ready to answer science, technology, engineering and math trivia questions through an app for a chance to win a scholarship.

The Ohio Valley Athletic Conference and Ohio Natural Energy Institute partnered to bring a STEM Trivia Challenge that’s offered to Ohio member schools of the OVAC.

OVAC General Marketing Manager Beth Johnson said the organization is always looking for ways to help partners of the OVAC integrate in the best way possible.

“We had access to this, this type of challenge, this app,” she said. “We thought it might be the right fit for Onei as a way that they would like to help support the schools. Although the OVAC is an athletic conference, it’s also about academics.”

The challenge is for students to answer STEM trivia questions through an app they can download that will allow them to test their STEM knowledge and potentially earn a scholarship. The challenge is available for all high school students in grades 9-12.

The challenge started last month with the OVAC sending out emails to schools’ superintendents, principals and teachers with an app link for the challenge they can forward to their students. They can then play the game on any device as many times as they want to better their individual score. Students will have a certain amount of time to answer as many STEM questions as they can once they hit the timer for the game.

Executive Director of Onei Bruce Tague said Education and Workforce Development Manager Shawn Toy and Programs Associate Mandolyn Newell visit schools to share educational materials, but now they will be challenging students to sign up for the STEM trivia, along with the schools’ staff encouraging students.

“It’s critical for their future, the future of our industry, but other industries and workforces as well,” Tague said. “Here in Ohio, as you’re aware, the natural gas and oil industry, we employ a large workforce all across Ohio with a lot of opportunities for young Ohioans. So we’re very excited about this and trying to think of fun, innovative ways to get students interested in STEM, and we just thought that this was a no brainer.”

A leaderboard will be available for students every time they get on the app to see where who stands, and results will be shared with the schools regularly.

The student with the highest score at the end of the competition in April will win a $1,500 scholarship to go toward their college education. At the same time, the school with the highest percentage of participating students will receive a $1,500 grant that supports future STEM initiatives, Johnson said.

“We wanted to incentivize the schools to encourage the kids to participate as well,” Tague said.

The OVAC is going to honor the winners at the OVAC Banquet of Champions on May 20.

This is a way for OneI to reach students in a way it has never been able to do before because a lot of the educational activities it does is in person, Tague said.

“It can definitely get them excited about answering the questions and being a part of the overall trying to compete against other schools, and maybe for a student who isn’t involved in the STEM club, but maybe just is academically strong in all of those subjects that are part of the STEM acronym,” Johnson said. “They could then realize maybe they would like to get more involved in their school STEM program, or if not offered at their school, find a way to get more involved.”

This competition can encourage students to want to do well, Tague said, and they will become engaged in the STEM areas because of the competition side of it and the $1,500 college scholarship incentive.