For the third consecutive year, S. W. Cole Engineering will hold a contest this fall for schools throughout the company’s service areas to promote science and engineering educational programs.

The contest, called “Dig Into Science with S. W. Cole Engineering,” is open to science, math or engineering students in first through 12th grade in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Since the competition’s inception, S. W. Cole has awarded one prize for each of its office locations, and this year is no exception. While last year’s contest named seven winners, S. W. Cole will choose eight winners for the 2013-2014 contest, to mark the firm’s new office in White River Junction, Vermont.

Since this office is the firm’s first in Vermont, this year also marks the first time the contest is open to students in the Green Mountain State.

Students will enter the contest as a class (for example, a teacher's 3rd grade class at an elementary school or a teacher's fourth-period 11th grade chemistry class) and each winning class will be awarded $1,000 for the purpose of attending a preapproved extracurricular program related to science, math or engineering.

More than 25 programs and centers are on the list of approved programs, including the Southworth Planetarium at the University of Southern Maine in Portland, Maine; the SEE Science Center in Manchester, New Hampshire; the Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich, Vermont; and many other related educational centers and programs throughout the area.

Stipends can also be used to bring an assembly or interactive program to the school, and winners may also suggest a program not on the list. Winning schools must use the stipend at a Maine, New Hampshire or Vermont-based program or center by the end of the 2013-2014 school year.

The contest will begin in September. More information, including exact start and end dates and rules for entering, will be available this summer on S. W. Cole’s website (www.swcole.com) and the firm’s Facebook (www.facebook.com/SWColeEngineering) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/SWColeEng).  

Established in 1979, S. W. Cole Engineering is an employee-owned firm of over 90 scientists, engineers and technicians providing geotechnical engineering, geology, environmental and natural resource consulting, and construction materials testing for projects throughout New England.

In addition to the firm’s corporate headquarters in Bangor, Maine, S. W. Cole also has three branch offices in Maine (Augusta, Caribou and Gray), three in New Hampshire (Keene, Manchester and Somersworth) and one in Vermont (White River Junction).