More than 150 students from 17 high schools and middle schools will compete in the fourth annual Hawai'i State Science Olympiad tomorrow at Leeward Community College. The competition will be from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Eighteen events will be held, including competitions in chemistry, ecology, forensics, oceanography and anatomy.

The Science Olympiad has grown since the first competition in 2004. Last year, there were eight teams from seven high schools, and the year before that, there were two teams from two high schools.

For more information, contact Franklin Allaire at allaire@hawaii.edu.

HPU WILL HOLD WRITING SESSIONS

Hawai'i Pacific University will hold its 11th annual Ko'olau Writing Workshops on March 8, from 8:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at HPU's Hawai'i Loa campus in Windward O'ahu.

Pet Cathy Song, author of such books as "Picture Bride," "Frameless Windows, Squares of Light," "School Figures," "The Land of Bliss" and "Cloud Moving Hands," will be the featured speaker.

The event, sponsored in part by the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts through the Hawai'i Literary Arts Council, will feature workshop sessions in nonfiction, poetry, fiction and scriptwriting.

Participants will receive a complimentary breakfast from 8:45 to 9:15 a.m. and complimentary beverages during lunch (brown bag lunch). A $20 fee is requested for the workshops, $10 for students.

Fees will be accepted at the door. Parking is free.

To reserve a seat, call 544-9340 or 544-1108, or send your name, address and phone number to pwilson@hpu.edu, or Patrice Wilson, 1060 Bishop St., LB7, Honolulu, HI 96813, by March 7.

SCHOLARSHIP FUND OF $50,000 SET UP

Linda and John Tolmie, owners of Hilo real estate firm Tolmie Properties Ltd., have established a $50,000 scholarship fund for students at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo.

The Tolmies established the fund in honor of their parents, John and Mary Tolmie and James and Fulvia Bailey.

The scholarship will benefit full-time students in any field at UH-Hilo. Preference will be given to students who have graduated from high school in Hawai'i and demonstrate financial need. The first scholarship will be given to a student enrolling in the fall of 2008.

John Tolmie is a former Marine Corps officer and a longstanding member of the UH-Hilo Chancellor's Advisory Board. Linda Tolmie, a former teacher, served as vice chair of the UH-Hilo Performing Arts Center Advisory Committee from its inception in 2003 until 2007.

UH-Hilo has the highest percentage of students receiving financial aid in the UH system. UH-Hilo receives nearly 5,000 applications for financial aid each year.

MILILANI SENIOR SCIENCE FINALIST

Mililani High School senior Philip Mocz is a finalist in the Intel Science Talent Search 2008 and will be among 40 students from around the country to attend the Intel Science Institute in Washington, D.C., from March 6 to 11.

Each finalist receives an Intel Core 2 Duo processor laptop computer and a scholarship of at least $5,000. Ten of the finalists will receive a scholarship award ranging from $20,000 to $100,000.

Mocz submitted research entitled, "Dissecting the Nearby Universe: Monothetic Divisive Analysis Based on Voronol Tessellations Reveals New Star Associations."