Illinois 2011

[courage7856]

Friday:
This is kind of late (musical rehearsal until 10. . .ugh!), but good luck to everyone competing at Loyola tomorrow!

Saturday:
So, my day at Loyola! CLS came in 7th overall, so we didn't stink. I also saw my best friend from third grade that I haven't seen for 8 years, which was crazy and awesome!

Ornithology: 1/6 of the stinking test was bird calls! There were a couple IDs I wasn't sure on, but other than that, I felt pretty good. If it wasn't for the bird calls, I would have medaled, I bet. And they were tough ones, too.
Experimental Design: One of our strongest people for this event was sick, so I filled in. The experiment had to do with experimenting with different properties of bird eggs. Obviously, they didn't give us real eggs, only a golf ball, ping pong ball, and Easter egg. We did something with distance rolled of a ramp, and got 5th, surprisingly.
Mission Possible: Could have gone better, could have gone a lot worse, so I'm thankful. 5th place again. The event director had a different interpretation of the rules than we did, so we made a decision that cost us a 100 points. We would have done better if he had told us off the bat. But he was pretty nice, and gave us advice on how to improve our device. Not all judges take time to do that.
Forensics: My event partner (a senior) hadn't done too well on his other events, so he said I would get a medal or else. 5th place again! I think the guy handing out medals got sick of me. . .but anyway, I handled the chemical part on my own since we had been doing practicing with the chem teacher at school, and I think I did pretty well. I was fairly confident on most, anyway. Whoever this event director is, they like theming their test. This one had all characters from the Simpsons, last time was Finding Nemo.
Fossils: This was a pretty easy test. Me and my partner did pretty well on it, but since it was easy, I think a lot of it came down to tiebreakers. Lots of "three ways these jaws are different" and "3 reasons this is not a Trilobite" and "3 reasons these ribs differ, other than mode of preservation" and "3 possible reasons why Trilobites gained spines in the Devonian" type questions. We got 6, one place off of a medal!!! I was so mad!

So, I kind of rambled here. I'm sure many of you could care less about how these tests went. If anyone wants, I could probably PM some of the test questions to you to practice.

[SO4L]

Someone left their Petersen Ornithology field guide and note sheets at the New Trier Regional Competition. If you see this, PM me so we can figure it out.

[mathemaniac]

So ready for COD Regionals on March 12

16 varisty teams competing.....yayyyyy. But on the bright side, medals for rank 1-6! Hopefully, I'll be one!

Does anyone know how a team qualifies for state? I know it's the top (some number) from a regional, but what IS that number?

Thanks! Good luck to everyone, and good job to those that already had their regional!

[lllazar]

Well at our regional which has 7 varsity teams, 3 qualify. So i dunno if i were to say (3/7)(16) = about 7, then i guess around 7 teams might qualify.

Edit: I think it's actually 6, because that might be why they give out medals to 1-6. Ask your coach, but im pretty sure it's either 6 or 7.

[mathemaniac]

Alright, thanks! That's actually kinda what I was thinking, but I looked on the archives on the ISO site, and there were the same number of varsity teams last year, but 7 qualified, which is why i was kind of confused. Either way, I'll definitly ask my coach and take regionals as a learning experience

[chia]

So ready for COD Regionals on March 12

Lol, I'm totally not ready! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S ALMOST MARCH ALREADY -hyperventilates-

[mathemaniac]

Hey, if we've been preparing for months on end, it HAS to be to some avail

And I'd rather just take in the excitement of regionals than to hyperventilate!

*tries to not hyperventilate*
*fails*

yeah, i'm really kinda nervous, too. Especially since not only me, but my entire school hasn't done SciOly regionals before.

[Skink]

yeah, i'm really kinda nervous, too. Especially since not only me, but my entire school hasn't done SciOly regionals before.

Ouch, it could take years to build a program from the ground up, particularly in Div. C. I speak from experience.
...CLC, by any chance? I ask only 'cause there's one school listed there that I've never heard of, which would make sense if it were new to SO.

[lllazar]

It takes years and students who are willing to work hard. That takes a driven coach and driven kids, but good luck to you guys! Im sure you'll do well if you've been preparing well.

[mathemaniac]

...CLC, by any chance? I ask only 'cause there's one school listed there that I've never heard of, which would make sense if it were new to SO.

nahhh, we're COD. I was trying to get our coach to let us attend an invitational so that we could gain some competitive experience, but that never worked out. So, unfortunatly, this will be our first ever competition. We are a pretty motivated school, but I guess you're right, it'll take a while to create a truly strong program.

In the meantime, we're trying to do the best we can handeling regionals. Hopefully, we can pull together when I'm a senior, and maybe we can make stae