Special to Northeast News
Jan. 20, 2010

The Kansas City, Mo., NAACP Youth Council will host an informational meeting Saturday, Jan. 30, for students interested in competing in the 2010 Academic, Cultural, Technological, and Scientific Olympics competition.

Students must attend this meeting and fill out their application online to compete. See www.kcmoaacpyc.ucoz.org and click on KCMO ACT-SO.
ACT-SO, the “Olympics of the Mind,” was developed in 1978 to enhance and showcase the academic and artistic achievements of African-American high school students just as we do their athletic achievements.

Students can compete in up to three of the following categories: biology/microbiology, chemistry/biochemistry, computer science, engineering, mathematics, medicine and health, physics, music composition, original essay, play writing, poetry, dance, dramatics, music instrumental/classical, music instrumental/contemporary, music vocal/classical, music vocal/contemporary, oratory, architecture, drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, filmmaking/video and entrepreneurship.

ACT-SO students who receive gold medals on the local level then compete at the national competition, where they receive scholarships and other rewards provided by national sponsors. National scholarships are $2,000 for gold, $1,500 for silver and $1,000 for bronze. The national ACT-SO competition will be in July in Kansas City.

A list of the rules and requirements are online. For more information, call (816) 421-1191 (816) 682-3743.