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besides this random gibberjabber coming from WM, does anyone even think that any other team has even a chance?
we should just give them byes and let everyone else compete for a spot.

As a three-time state competitor in Division C, I never made it past West Point and got to Nationals. But you know what? I'm really okay with that. Besides the "blah blah blah spirit of Science Olympiad" thing, I think it's also a spirit of competition that needs to kick in.

So another team beat you. Guess what: that means that they worked really hard and put in countless hours of time and love (maybe even blood and sweat) into their events. How can you not respect that kind of dedication? My team never made it past 11th place when I was there - but I think that's what made me work harder in my junior in senior years. I wanted to push us further. I didn't care if that meant Nationals or 10th place, it's in the idea that I also wanted to be counted as an elite competitor.

Honestly, it shouldn't matter how many teams we can send. I think that beyond getting all the important learning stuff out of Science Olympiad, you should also be pushed by the actions of others. If that means a mindset of "let's try to beat FM in something" that may be all it takes. But remember, keep that in a spirit of respect and not of hate/jealousy.

ZekeBud wrote:So another team beat you. Guess what: that means that they worked really hard and put in countless hours of time and love (maybe even blood and sweat) into their events.

Coming from a balsa builder (planes and bridges) I can vouch for the blood part.

quizbowl13 wrote:besides this random gibberjabber coming from WM, does anyone even think that any other team has even a chance?
we should just give them byes and let everyone else compete for a spot.

Well, our gibberjabber does have a point. We've been doing better each year, but that doesn't mean we're the only ones improving. Any team has the potential to improve enough to make it to Nats.

Take our jr. high schools for example. Way back when, Murphy was the top competitor and Gelinas wasn't so great. But then Murphy lost their coach and Gelinas got a great one and then for a bit, Gelinas was getting 1st and 2nd in the state and Murphy was getting in the 40s. And now Murphy has been trying really hard and they've been coming to Gelinas practices, as well as their own. In 3 years, they went from 30-something to 3rd at States.

So you never know exactly what might happen. Even Spackenkill, who had a history of doing extremely well at states, suddenly got 15th.

gneissisnice wrote: So you never know exactly what might happen. Even Spackenkill, who had a history of doing extremely well at states, suddenly got 15th.

And then came back and got, what, third this year? Something in the top five, at least. Point being, there's no guarantee that a good year will be followed by another good year, or a bad year will be followed by another bad year.

Work your butts off. Or rather, work your social lives off. That's what we do (actually, I usually just ignore my actual school homework in favor of studying for SciO. My science teachers are usually only a little miffed by this, but my English/history teachers tend to be less than pleased ). Our team has enough crazy fun on the Nationals trip alone to make up for turning down invitations to hang out for most of the school year xD.

yea, i guess so. i hope i can medal at states for the first time next year, i was so close..

It's a really good feeling to medal at States.

It's probably better to medal, or even win, at nationals

Oh, that feels much better. Trust me.

paleonaps95 wrote:Oh, that feels much better. Trust me.

Naps, please refrain from acting like a jerk on the forums.