Science Olympiad "Dynasties"

[Unome]

It really is a blast from the past to remember just how dominant Ohio schools were in the early 2010s. California seems to be tougher overall nowadays, but back then Ohio was the unquestioned king, and it wasn't close. It's also a good reminder of just how good those Grand Haven teams were.

One thing I do wonder is if you were to drop 2012 Solon or 2010 Centerville into 2019 nationals, how they'd do. Teams are definitely better now than they used to, but those teams were on a different level. A good hypothetical to consider.

We’d win, hands down, not that I’m biased :p

2019, I'm pretty sure 2012 Solon would win. 2018, not so sure.

[primitivepolonium]

What leads to these super classes, like Centerville's class of 2011 and Solon 2012/3? Is it coaching, or the kids? I haven't much about Centerville/Solon coaches, other than Solon's coaches switched up sometime in 2015 or so, but it would be super coincidental for a bunch of especially smart kids to just happen to be in school at the same time.

[Unome]

What leads to these super classes, like Centerville's class of 2011 and Solon 2012/3? Is it coaching, or the kids? I haven't much about Centerville/Solon coaches, other than Solon's coaches switched up sometime in 2015 or so, but it would be super coincidental for a bunch of especially smart kids to just happen to be in school at the same time.

I assume in Troy, there aren't that many people who aren't on the team but would do really well on it? The opposite is the case at most schools. It's "just" getting more of those people on the team.

[RoboMarth]

What leads to these super classes, like Centerville's class of 2011 and Solon 2012/3? Is it coaching, or the kids? I haven't much about Centerville/Solon coaches, other than Solon's coaches switched up sometime in 2015 or so, but it would be super coincidental for a bunch of especially smart kids to just happen to be in school at the same time.

Hard to say. The whole of 2014-2018 was a particularly volatile period for Solon Science Olympiad coaching, given the following timeline:

2014 - new head coach for Div B., new head and assistant coaches for Div C.
2015 - new head coach for Div B. (formerly the assistant coach, so assistant position now vacant)
2016 - new head and assistant coach for Div B., temporary assistant coach for Div C. (original assistant coach returned for 2017)
2018 - new head and assistant coaches for Div C.

Solon High School's class of 2013 is perhaps the most successful single grade level of Science Olympiad students of all time, with many of its members never having experienced not getting 1st place at nationals -- starting from 7th grade (at the time the team only allowed two 6th graders to join), Div B. champions from 2008-2010 and Div C. champions from 2011-2013.

Personally, I would say that much of the success in Science Olympiad comes down to motivation and how much work you're willing to put in while at the same time being able to see that work as not taxing or a chore (aka as fun!), as opposed to smarts (although that certainly doesn't hurt). With the constant changing of coaches, it can hard to keep everyone focused given the uncertainty for next year. There was also a marked decrease in interest in Science Olympiad after the streak ended (at least at the Div C. level), where it became difficult to even field two complete teams for Invitationals, although interest on the whole seems to be on the rise again a few years removed from 2014.

[EastStroudsburg13]

What leads to these super classes, like Centerville's class of 2011 and Solon 2012/3? Is it coaching, or the kids? I haven't much about Centerville/Solon coaches, other than Solon's coaches switched up sometime in 2015 or so, but it would be super coincidental for a bunch of especially smart kids to just happen to be in school at the same time.

That's more common than you think. It probably doesn't apply to Troy due to its nature as a magnet school (and the fact that there's not much higher to go), but many teams' peaks coincide with a single class or two that happen to be unusually strong.

[primitivepolonium]

With the constant changing of coaches, it can hard to keep everyone focused given the uncertainty for next year. There was also a marked decrease in interest in Science Olympiad after the streak ended (at least at the Div C. level), where it became difficult to even field two complete teams for Invitationals, although interest on the whole seems to be on the rise again a few years removed from 2014.

Someone from a high school near Solon told me the decline in interest had to do with the lack of college app success the seniors on the streak were experiencing. Others said this also affected the trajectory of Solon MS students, motivating them to forgo Div C SciO or Solon HS altogether. Is this true, or are there too many other factors to say decisively?

That's more common than you think.

I mean, I've definitely seen schools that thrive for 3-4 years and then plummet back down. But the difference between those cases and Solon/Centerville is that the scale of the cycle is way smaller. That was what confused me. Going from a nugu or near-nugu team to placing 2nd-6th at States can really just be the work of 2-5 people, and this is even more plausible if your school's already academically competitive or strong at STEM. But getting say, 158 at nationals (~6.9th place in each event) requires basically almost everyone to be not only academically smart, but also good at Science Olympiad. This seemed less likely without additional external factors like coaching/culture/etc.

[EastStroudsburg13]

That's more common than you think.

I mean, I've definitely seen schools that thrive for 3-4 years and then plummet back down. But the difference between those cases and Solon/Centerville is that the scale of the cycle is way smaller. That was what confused me. Going from a nugu or near-nugu team to placing 2nd-6th at States can really just be the work of 2-5 people, and this is even more plausible if your school's already academically competitive or strong at STEM. But getting say, 158 at nationals (~6.9th place in each event) requires basically almost everyone to be not only academically smart, but also good at Science Olympiad. This seemed less likely without additional external factors like coaching/culture/etc.

You have to consider Solon/Centerville's baseline, though. Their norm is a top-10 team at nationals. If you add 3-6 unusually strong team members to an already strong mix, that's when you'd see unusually strong performances like 158 points.

[nicholasmaurer]

With the constant changing of coaches, it can hard to keep everyone focused given the uncertainty for next year. There was also a marked decrease in interest in Science Olympiad after the streak ended (at least at the Div C. level), where it became difficult to even field two complete teams for Invitationals, although interest on the whole seems to be on the rise again a few years removed from 2014.

Someone from a high school near Solon told me the decline in interest had to do with the lack of college app success the seniors on the streak were experiencing. Others said this also affected the trajectory of Solon MS students, motivating them to forgo Div C SciO or Solon HS altogether. Is this true, or are there too many other factors to say decisively?

As an alumnus who competed nationally for Solon HS during our streak, I can tell you there's no truth to the rumor that my teammates and I were disappointed with our college application outcomes. I have teammates from those years who attended Harvard, Yale, Duke, Columbia, Cornell, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, U Chicago, Northwestern, and similarly competitive schools.

There are certainly Solon MS students who feel burned out with SO after 3-4 years on that team and choose to pursue other activities in high school (e.g. Speech and Debate, Mock Trial, Quizbowl) that are more interesting to them but weren't available in middle school. There are also Solon parents who chose to place their students into private school for their high school years thinking the "prestige" and connections of private schools will serve as a better feeder to Ivy League colleges. Whether the admissions data supports these moves is open to interpretation.

If you are looking to pinpoint real reasons for lower placements those few years I'd say it was multifactorial: several coaching changes, *relatively* weaker grades of students (it's hard to call top 10 "weak"), more students interested in Speech and Debate, disillusionment with the pressure to win, some fluke mistakes at state tournaments, etc.

[primitivepolonium]

As an alumnus who competed nationally for Solon HS during our streak, I can tell you there's no truth to the rumor that my teammates and I were disappointed with our college application outcomes.

If you are looking to pinpoint real reasons for lower placements those few years I'd say it was multifactorial: several coaching changes, *relatively* weaker grades of students (it's hard to call top 10 "weak"), more students interested in Speech and Debate, disillusionment with the pressure to win, some fluke mistakes at state tournaments, etc.

Thanks for the answer!

Yeah, I've met/seen Solon SciO kids from (and after) the streak years at elite colleges, so am unsure why this rumor that people didn't get into good places is around (I heard it from someone at Brecksville Broadview HHS when I asked "What happened?" in 2015). The reasons you and RoboMarth cite make a lot of sense. Doing well at SciOly certainly requires a strong SciOly culture, which gets weaker if there's enough pressure to detract from the fun, or instability in coaching.

(I should definitely clarify I'm not calling top 10 "weak", especially if it's a consistent top 10; nor do I intend in any way to diminish Solon/Centerville's "normal" performance. My curiosity through this thread was mostly piqued by *just* how good those early 201x teams were. )