{"id":230588,"date":"2026-03-10T14:43:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T00:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=230588"},"modified":"2026-03-11T10:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T20:23:10","slug":"physics-olympics-kapiolani-cc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/03\/10\/physics-olympics-kapiolani-cc\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridges, balloons, jousting: Physics Olympics lights up Kapi&#699;olani <abbr>CC<\/abbr>"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><figure id=\"attachment_230603\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-230603\" style=\"width: 676px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kapiolani-physics-olympics-1.jpg\" alt=\"Group of students completing physics challenge\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"size-full wp-image-230603\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kapiolani-physics-olympics-1.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kapiolani-physics-olympics-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kapiolani-physics-olympics-1-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-230603\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mililani High School team competing in the Sink or Swim challenge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Balloon-propelled boats and cart jousting were just a few of the competitions that tested the problem solving skills and physics knowledge of 80 high school students from across <span lang=\"haw\">O&#699;ahu<\/span> at the <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.google.com\/hawaii.edu\/physics-olympics\/home\">36th Annual <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Physics Olympics<\/a>, held at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kapiolani.hawaii.edu\/\"><span lang=\"haw\">Kapi&#699;olani<\/span> Community College<\/a> for the third consecutive year in February.<\/p>\n<p>This year&#8217;s competition featured 14 teams representing:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_230604\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-230604\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kapiolani-physics-olympics-2-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Students cheering on balloon boat\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-230604\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kapiolani-physics-olympics-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kapiolani-physics-olympics-2-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kapiolani-physics-olympics-2.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-230604\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kaiser High School team competing in the Balloon-Propelled Boats competition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>Farrington High School<\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"haw\">&#699;Iolani<\/span> School<\/li>\n<li>Kalani High School<\/li>\n<li>Kaiser High School<\/li>\n<li>Mililani High School<\/li>\n<li>Le Jardin Academy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Students worked collaboratively throughout the day, rotating through timed, experiential challenges that emphasized teamwork, precision and applied critical thinking.<\/p>\n<h2>Inspiring the next generation<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_230605\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-230605\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kapiolani-physics-olympics-3-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Group of students standing around competition judge\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-230605\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kapiolani-physics-olympics-3-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kapiolani-physics-olympics-3-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kapiolani-physics-olympics-3.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-230605\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kalani High School team await the decision of the judges at the Cart Joust competition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;The challenges were really fun and built a base for learning,&rdquo; said Farrington High School senior Qunicy Sablan. &ldquo;It&#8217;s cool seeing and participating in the wide variety of events that are all hands-on.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The event is organized by the <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> section of the <a href=\"https:\/\/hawaii.aaptsections.org\/\">American Association of Physics Teachers<\/a> (<abbr>AAPT-HI<\/abbr>).<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;These high school students get to be on a college campus and have a fun day of physics, competition, and camaraderie amongst themselves as well as with other schools,&rdquo; said <span lang=\"haw\">Kapi&#699;olani<\/span> <abbr>CC<\/abbr> physics instructor and Vice President of <abbr>AAPT<\/abbr> Jacob Tyler. &ldquo;Engaging students in applied physics challenges strengthens <abbr title=\"Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics\">STEM<\/abbr> pathways and inspires the next generation of learners.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>Legacy of scientific curiosity in <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_230606\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-230606\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kapiolani-physics-olympics-4-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Group of students seated at classroom desks\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-230606\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kapiolani-physics-olympics-4-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kapiolani-physics-olympics-4-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kapiolani-physics-olympics-4.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-230606\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Farrington High School team competing at Jeopardy competition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span lang=\"haw\">Kapi&#699;olani<\/span> <abbr title=\"Community College\">CC<\/abbr> Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs <span lang=\"haw\">N\u0101wa&#699;a<\/span> Napoleon encouraged students to see their work in physics as part of a longer legacy of scientific curiosity in <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Our <span lang=\"haw\">Ali&#699;i<\/span>, especially King Kal\u0101kaua, husband of Queen <span lang=\"haw\">Kapi&#699;olani<\/span>, in 1881 met with Thomas Edison in New York to discuss the physics of electricity,&rdquo; said Napoleon. &ldquo;<span lang=\"haw\">&#699;Iolani<\/span> Palace had electricity before the White House or Buckingham Palace. In today&#8217;s competition, let physics be your constant, and let creativity be your variable.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Challenges were developed by students from <span lang=\"haw\">Kapi&#699;olani<\/span> <abbr>CC<\/abbr>, Leeward <abbr>CC<\/abbr>, University of <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa and Brigham Young University.<\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"haw\">&#699;Iolani<\/span> School physics teacher Doug Ellman, president of <abbr>AAPT<\/abbr>, said, &ldquo;This is our 36th year running the event and part of the history of physics here in <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>. It&#8217;s a really special event that brings together our <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> physics community.&rdquo;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>High school students met fun challenges at the Physics Olympics at <span lang=\"haw\">Kapi&#699;olani<\/span> <abbr>CC<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":230603,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[63,124,313,71],"class_list":["post-230588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-kapiolani-community-college","tag-physics","tag-stem","tag-uh-community-colleges","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/kapiolani-physics-olympics-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230588"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":230703,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230588\/revisions\/230703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}