Science Olympiad Committee (SOC)
Established in 2002, the AESA Science Olympiad Committee promotes engineering and sciences within middle school and high school students through mentoring and organization of annual Science Olympiads. Each participating student receives a “Certificate of participation.” Winners at the science fair receive Certificates, Monitory awards and Obsidian medallions made in Armenia. The Science Olympiad also presents a teacher award to a school each year.
The SOC was established in February 2002 with the ultimate goal to increase interest in sciences and engineering among young Armenian students, foster their knowledge beyond the confines of a classroom, and provide recognition of outstanding achievements by students and teachers.
The committee organizes an annual Science Olympiad competition among Armenian students from Armenian or public schools in the Los Angeles area. The olympiad provides interscholastic academic competition in the fields of Physical Sciences and Life Sciences for two grade levels, Middle School (grades 6-8) and High School (grades 9-12). Students' projects areevaluated based on creativity, scientific approach, comprehension, and presentation. The Science Olympiad follows the California State Science Fair rules and regulations. The competition is judged by engineering professionals and scientists, many of whom hold advanced degrees in their fields. Some of the judges also serve at the Los Angeles County and California State science fairs. Participating students submit their projects and posters and are visited by a number of judges throughout the competition day. During the evaluation and interview process, the judges provide constructive feedback to all students for future improvements of their projects and presentations. 
One of the purposes that the Science Olympiad is to prepare students for the county and state competitions as well as nurture their passion to engineering and sciences. Custom-made obsidian medallions from Armenia are given to winners of the Science Olympiad competition, in addition to $500, $250, $100, and $50 Awards to selected winners in each one of the two categories and two levels.
In 2003, a number of industry leaders and AESA members offered internship programs to students for the summer. Twenty students took advantage of these opportunities by attending the UCLA Radiation Oncology Department and Medtronics internships.
In 2005, the SOC launched a mentoring program. Students are matched with experts in the area of their interest. The mentors consult the students to better guide them with their projects throughout the preparation of their science projects. In December 6, 2008 the SOC will held the fourth coaching day at Glendale Library from 1:30 to 6.30 pm
In 2006 a new “Teachers award” was added to recognize the dedication and efforts of the science teacher. A teacher is selected per competition and granted a $300 award toward the purchase of a laboratory equipment or instrumentation of their choice for their school’s science laboratory.
The monetary awards are supported by a special AESA fund, Science Olympiad Endowment fund. Visit the “Sponsors” tab for more details.