GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Science can be a sport; just ask the nearly 1,000 kids who came to East Carolina University on Saturday.

The university hosted a regional Science Olympiad qualifier. The Science Olympiad is a nationwide STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) competition in which contestants demonstrate their knowledge with hands-on experiments.

"Our kids now that are in middle school and high school are training for careers that don't even exist yet," said Kim Gervase, the director of North Carolina's Science Olympiad. "We're teaching them to be thinkers and problem solvers, which is more important than just learning chemistry facts."

"The kids are exploring all avenues in biology, geology, engineering, some of the building events, and in physics," added Ann McClung, the coordinator of ECU's Center for STEM Education. "It's a whole gambit of science that they are just really embracing and doing wonderful things."

The top finishers in Saturday's competition qualified for the statewide competition, which will occur on North Carolina State's campus in April.

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