Is Science Olympiad worth it?

[sewforlife]

I think it's definitely worth it if you learn and meet people like you. I especially like learning, so that later I can note things, like.. oh! I learned that call in SO. like in the summer, before I go to sleep, I can identify the frog calls coming from outside. who else in my grade knows how to do that?

[Jocool]

in short, its worth it cuz its fun and there is nothin more to say about it.

[winneratlife]

I remember my Sophomore year I did Wright Stuff and my plane was actually really good (first year doing it). It was clocking in a time that would have been good enough for 3rd at Regionals. Since I had no partner, they had someone else on the team help me. After 2 hours of repeated flights, we decide to go to the judges to have our official flight. My "partner" drops the rubber band, goes down to pick it up, and when he comes back up his head collides with the back portion of the plane. The stabilizer was demolished. Needless to say, we didn't get 3rd-we got 9th. And that year, my team missed State by 2 points.

I was probably as mad as you are now. But I eventually realized that I would have my revenge next year. That revenge never happened because Wright Stuff got replaced with Egg O Naut. Funny how things work, I didn't want to do Egg O Naut last year but I did it anyways because no one else wanted to. Now, this year, my Egg O Naut has received first place at every competition we have been to (4 total). Just because this year didn't go well doesn't mean it isn't worth it. Focus on improving next year.

As for not getting to choose your own events, that's bull. I like to do a range of events. For example, I will be doing Tech Prob Solving, Disease Detectives, Anatomy, Egg O Naut, and Cell Bio at State. But, I had a hand in building the Mousetrap this year and also did Exp. Design at some competitions. But I would NEVER want to do a Chemistry event. You really should say something to your coaches about that, it seems like they are not giving the Freshman a very good incentive to join...

Regardless, you will have a choice next year right? You will be a Sophomore. Don't let one bad Regional get to you, just come back strong next year.

Thanx...
I BETTER have a choice next year... (I think I'll run for E-Board, that ought to help)

Okay, screw it, I'm over it, thanx a ton guys...

Next year, I'm going to take it out on Troy High
Or maybe during states

Actually, this year, I think I'll take it out on Troy High during AIME Tuesday

[scienceolympiadfreak]

@winneratlife: Good luck!

[Celeste]

TOTALLY WORTH IT. NO DOUBT.

[gneissisnice]

I mean, think about it...
You spend hours and hours studying, slaving away, building, and THEN:

a. You panic during your building event, mess up, and get screwed
b. You go to your study event, realize that the test is exactly what you didn't study, and get screwed
c. Your team misses states by 1-5 points
d. Your team misses NATS by 1-5 points
e. Your team just overall sucks, and no matter how hard you work, you're not getting as far as you would like
f. You make a deal with your partner, and they don't follow up, and you get screwed
g. The event supervisor messes up their knowledge of the test subjects, and write the answer key wrong, and you get screwed
h. The floor on which your build event occurs is messed up (i.e. really slippery) and you get screwed

Anyways, if any of these happens, or you just plain lose, how do you feel knowing that you spent hours and hours of your precious time and essentially WASTED it...
Do you find Science Olympiad to still be worth it?

(I'm asking this cuz I just got f***ed at regionals, and I'm now really depressed)

Yeah but:
a. You still had a blast building your tech event, learning a lot of new things, and even if it fails, you know its weak points and what to do next time.
b.You still should hopefully know some things for the test, you learn what kind of questions to expect, and you know what to do for next time.
c. You still did a great job, and if anything goes wrong and a team cant go, you're probably the alternate team.
d. Same as c. (trust me, my school's been in that boat before).
e.You're still making friends and learning science in ways that are much more useful than what you do in class.
f.Yeah, that kinda sucks.
g.That doesn't happen often, especially with multiple people grading.
h.Everyone team competing has to deal with that, so it's more equalized.

I have to say that Science Olympiad was the most worthwhile thing i did in jr high and high school. I made a ton of friends, I got experience in a leadership position (I was a captain in my senior year), I learned a LOT of things that we never even touched in class (thanks to scio, I have the highest grade in my mineralogy class in college and I'm the only freshman there), and it was a ton of fun. Thanks to all that studying, I have a very in depth knowledge on many things that i would never even have thought of, and it was also because of scio that I decided i wanted to major in Earth Science and become a teacher.

So even if your team messes up, you benefit a lot.

[fmtiger124]

There are times where after I had stayed after school every day to get my scrambler working, having it still not work and then the egg manage to break when I was putting tape on it where i was like "Why the butterfly did I even bother?".
Otherwise sure, it was worth it.

[denmarksoccer]

It's not always about winning. Even if you get dead last in an event because you filled your scantron out in #3 pencil, you still walk out of science olympiad knowing more than you did before. Knowledge is not a waste.

Or this happens.

But seriously, Science Olympiad is a ton of fun.

[EastStroudsburg13]

c. You still did a great job, and if anything goes wrong and a team cant go, you're probably the alternate team.

What if there's only one team? I'm not saying it's not worth it (it is) but what if that argument doesn't apply?

[gneissisnice]

c. You still did a great job, and if anything goes wrong and a team cant go, you're probably the alternate team.

What if there's only one team? I'm not saying it's not worth it (it is) but what if that argument doesn't apply?

I mean like if your school gets 3rd in states, the top 2 teams go (for NY at least), and the 3rd team is an alternate. If for some reason, the 1st or 2nd place team go (couldnt raise the money, had an emergency, etc), then you take their place.

It's still a stretch though, to be honest, rebutting each point was kind of silly on my part, I shoulda just stuck with my last paragraph =)