Illinois 2013

[Knighted_Cardinal]

And I think that that's the whole point of Sci Oly. It's about having fun and enjoying what you're learning, while still having that competition that pushes you to learn more. And I'm pretty sure this is off topic too, sorry to the forums in general.

[tuftedtitmouse12]

Other school on fire..?

I think he means Naperville North? ....

[Skink]

^yep.

I've only been on the Prospect team for part of the year(I joined about 2 weeks before regionals) but South had a lot of parent and community volunteers to help coach, and at Prospect most of our math and science department either don't care or coach a sport... And as for how competitive I want the team to be, it's not so much for winning state(even though that would be nice) as it is just knowing that the medals you win mean that you topped the whole state, and not just the division A schools. You know?

That's how it was at my high school. The teachers all had their own pet activity, athletic deal to coach, or kids at home where SO was not something they were interested in. Even if they won't formally commit to coaching you or anything, most teachers are available for advising if you have specific questions about a topic and give them advance notice to help you.
If it makes you feel better, the scoring spreadsheet ranks all 40-some odd teams outright, so you can figure out how many AA medals you would have gotten if A didn't exist or had you been in AA. In other words, if you're in A and got 4th in the results table, that's a fourth place AA medal you can be that much more proud of!

SO should be about learning, not blind competition. And in IL its really just become that. Ive never been secretive about my stuff, its interesting and i think its the point of scioly to learn how other people think and how to come up with ideas

Funny you mention it, I had an hour long chat with a parent last night about this exact issue. New topic...

[mathemaniac]

As much as I really think "blind competition" is a terrible thing for Sci Oly (personally I've never seen someone get angry about taking a photo or covering their devices or anything, but that sounds terrible), fostering competition has been pretty integral to my teams success. I can speak for my entire team when I say we truly love what we do, but at the same time, the incentive of having bragging rights over your sister schools (for us, it's Waubonsie and Neuqua) is something that pushes you just a bit harder to try new things and learn more things. And it's not like we dislike the schools we compete with - I cheered really hard when people at Waubonsie or Neuqua medalled because it's awesome to see our area do well.

tl;dr - blind competition is bad, but friendly competition can be a good thing. not all competition sucks.

[mrsteven]

I wanted to submit pictures to the gallery from my devices this year, but I cant seem to find the upload/anything like that button on the new gallery

And it also appears that the gallery doesnt have event designations anymore? Why is it all 1 string of photos?

[tuftedtitmouse12]

And it also appears that the gallery doesnt have event designations anymore? Why is it all 1 string of photos?

I think the gallery is still a work in progress right now. You can email robot...I think.

[Makeithappen]

South kinda took a nosedive recently themselves compared to where they were some years ago. They're lucky S&A didn't top them at State. Anyways, getting a good C team is a daunting task in today's competitive environment. It almost requires the feeder school team to be great, which is a nonissue.

Forgot to quote but, south has worked hard, just Marie Murphy and danial wright are a lot better. We placed 5th at the Solon invite. We haven't nosedived

[Skink]

Sorry, bro, 'nosedived' was a bit hyperbolic. They're/You're not at the level of competition they were back in the day. Recall that the jump from 3rd to 2nd place is a huge one (needless to say the difference between 4th or 5th and 2nd overall is incredible). I know you guys have been trying hard! I've spoken to both coaches and parents from your team about the matter recently. I could be wrong, but my analysis is that, a few years back, Marie Murphy was the IL favorite. And, if we go from National results in the past few years, they are. Here's the kicker. DW is improving, not getting worse. In other words, snagging those top spots is difficult because, as time passes in IL, more strong teams surface. S&A have climbed the ladder recently! It's entirely possible I'm completely wrong and South never changed; the competition just got steeper across the board. Which is it? Couldn't tell ya.

[tuftedtitmouse12]

Sorry, bro, 'nosedived' was a bit hyperbolic. They're/You're not at the level of competition they were back in the day. Recall that the jump from 3rd to 2nd place is a huge one (needless to say the difference between 4th or 5th and 2nd overall is incredible). I know you guys have been trying hard! I've spoken to both coaches and parents from your team about the matter recently. I could be wrong, but my analysis is that, a few years back, Marie Murphy was the IL favorite. And, if we go from National results in the past few years, they are. Here's the kicker. DW is improving, not getting worse. In other words, snagging those top spots is difficult because, as time passes in IL, more strong teams surface. S&A have climbed the ladder recently! It's entirely possible I'm completely wrong and South never changed; the competition just got steeper across the board. Which is it? Couldn't tell ya.

Skink, in addition, Hawthorn North has risen from 9th last year to 5th place this year. I would go with "steeper" competition. In Division C, isn't Hinsdale North in the top 5? Were they there last year? I could be wrong, but this year in Division C, looks like the top 5 have shuffled a bit, especially with Libertyville edging in to get a 5th place too.....

[chia]

Hinsdale Central, not North. Naperville North in 5th place this year IS a change from last year, but IMSA/HC/Libertyville were up there last year. If you look back to two, three years ago, though, then the lineup has definitely changed.