High school students from nearly 100 Wisconsin districts are on the UW-Milwaukee campus this weekend as part of the 2015 Wisconsin Science Olympiad.

“I think it’s a pretty neat program,” said Dillon George of Poynette.

Students and their parents and teacher/coaches began arriving on campus Friday, which featured presentations and interactive events during the morning and afternoon. They chose from exhibits promoting STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

Saturday, students will have the opportunity to compete as teams in 23 different science events.

Winning teams from around the country will be invited to compete in the National Science Olympiad, May 13-15, at the University of Nebraska.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for students to make the connection between academics and careers in science,” said Kristen Murphy, associate professor of chemistry who helped organize the event.

Bridgette Perkins of Athens and her classmate Marella Valdez were planning to participate Saturday in a number of events, including bridge building, forensics, chemistry lab, disease detectives and food science.

“Bridge building has been interesting,” said Perkins, “but chemistry lab was really hard.”

Michelle Nguyen of Beloit described her experience at Friday’s “Molecules, Ions and Everything in Between” demonstration as “really cool.”

Poynette’s Kayden Hodgeman said his interest in engineering was peeked after he attended “Electrifying Times with IEEE” in UWM’s Engineering and Mathematical Science building.

“The engineering professor was really awesome,” he said.

George said of the time he spent learning about engineering and spectroscopy, “I didn’t know anything about engineering, but it kind of enlightened me.”

He added that the Olympiad would help him decide what he wanted to study.

“I’m glad they’re taking us through these tours so they can give us some experience as to what we want to do in the future,” he said.

Brian Mole of Chippewa Falls spent time touring engineering and math prep demonstrations.

“It was fun,” he said.

Some students said their time on campus had them considering UWM as an option.

“I’m thinking about coming here now,” said Mole. “I liked the school.”

“I have a lot more interest,” added Dan Cook of Poynette.

After the demonstrations and exhibits on Friday, students had a chance to see Lee Marek, a chemist from the University of Chicago-Illinois known for light-hearted scientific demonstrations on “The Late Show with David Letterman.”

Friday’s opening ceremonies were scheduled for 6:45 p.m. Students had dinner, followed by a performance by Unclear on the Concept, a band featuring two UWM science professors, Xavier Siemens and Jon Kahl.