Joseph Corbo and Traci Sullivan, coaches and science teachers at Island School on Kauai, watched intently as judges poured sand into a bucket hanging from Island School student Sasha Rovinsky’s boomilever.

The goal was to see how much weight the wooden, bridgelike device could withstand.

And it seemed solid until its tip where the bucket hung from suddenly snapped.

But it could have been worse. Rovinsky, 12, won congratulations from his classmates, who noted that other boomilevers in the competition snapped completely in half.

"We think (the tip broke) because we used a different kind of wood from the rest of the boomilever," Sullivan said.

Gray skies and occasional showers didn’t dampen the excitement of 700 students from 30 public, private and charter schools that participated in the Hawaii State Science Olympiad at Leeward Community College on Saturday.

The competition, which started in 2005, tests middle school and high school students’ knowledge of science, technology, engineering and math. The students competed in events like forensics, problem solving and built robots and helicopter devices to perform specific tasks.

For the boomilever competition, Rovinsky’s strategy was to make the device lightweight so that it could carry more sand. He added that winning was not the goal for his team.

"We just wanted to relax and take it like we would a normal test," he said.

Roger Kwok, the science olympiad’s coordinator and an associate professor at LCC, said this is the first year the Hawaii competition is including all 45 events that will be held at the 30th annual National Science Olympiad Tournament May 16-17 in Orlando, Fla.

Iolani School will represent Hawaii in the nationals in both the middle school and high school divisions. Iolani’s victories Saturday come with two $10,000 cash prizes.

Franklin Allaire, the contest’s state director and president, said the competition encourages students to become more interested in science and technology

"There’s a difference between taking a test in a classroom and participating in something hands on," Allaire said. "That’s the way science is. You get to the explore cool stuff and see how the world works. There is a level of enthusiasm for science that you would typically see in an athletic competition."

Kim Strong, HSSO state elementary director and coach for La Pietra’s middle school division, added that the science olympiad is a chance for students to "go with what they like and explore to find out what they might want to do (in the future)."

Allaire said when the olympiad first started, only one school with two teams competed. Now there are five regional competitions that schools need to place in before they can get to the state finals. In addition, not all students get a chance to participate because teams fill up quickly.

"We’re fortunate that our students are excited about learning," Corbo said. "They’re not even here for a grade. It’s like putting a team together for a sporting event."

La Pietra seventh-graders Mae Sebastian and Annela Donechie said this was the first time their school participated at the olympiad.

Watching rival schools compete"is something that motivates you," Sebastian said.

Donechie and Sebastian said they will come back next year. Sebastian, who wants to be an engineer, said she likes the building parts of the competition.

"I really enjoying building and destroying things," Sebastian said.

Donechie joked it’s good to be participating in the competition because "you can’t build a bridge and destroy it in real life."