Illinois 2013

[chia]

@Cheesy: Wow, and I thought turnout was great back when I was at Kennedy... How did you guys get so much interest in Scioly? Are there just more plussers interested or something?

@thsom: 8th graders required to...? What does that even mean? And 150 in just 6th/7th graders? Whoa, what middle school did you go to? And was your grade the first one to do that... that would help explain how your high school team did so well in their first year (since it was, last year, right?)

and @Orchdork: Hi, nice to see you on again! (Also, when is it not "that time of year"? XD)

[thsom]

@Cheesy: Wow, and I thought turnout was great back when I was at Kennedy... How did you guys get so much interest in Scioly? Are there just more plussers interested or something?

@thsom: 8th graders required to...? What does that even mean? And 150 in just 6th/7th graders? Whoa, what middle school did you go to? And was your grade the first one to do that... that would help explain how your high school team did so well in their first year (since it was, last year, right?)

and @Orchdork: Hi, nice to see you on again! (Also, when is it not "that time of year"? XD)

well 8th graders were required to try out for science olympiad, it was a part of their grade in science. For 6th and 7th grade, there was a lot of interest because we had a magnet pod in our middle school, which took kids from all 3 middle schools in our district. They all wanted to do science olympiad. All years were like that. Our high school on the other hand had barely any interest. We had 20 people last year, 15 for varsity, 5 for JV, but a lot of Varsity kids didn't show up so we just look the JV kids. This year, there wer 25-30 people, we took all of the members from the team last year and a few freshmen...

[mrsteven]

Got rules from soinc today

[chia]

I did too I'm actually really looking forward to this year's events (except ELG... that one not so much... I miss Helicopter already -tear-)

well 8th graders were required to try out for science olympiad, it was a part of their grade in science. For 6th and 7th grade, there was a lot of interest because we had a magnet pod in our middle school, which took kids from all 3 middle schools in our district. They all wanted to do science olympiad. All years were like that. Our high school on the other hand had barely any interest. We had 20 people last year, 15 for varsity, 5 for JV, but a lot of Varsity kids didn't show up so we just look the JV kids. This year, there wer 25-30 people, we took all of the members from the team last year and a few freshmen...

The middle school part with the magnet pod actually sounds a lot like a program Kennedy has which similarly boosts Science Olympiad interest (none of the other 4 middle schools in the district even have a team), though I've never heard of tryouts being mandatory... huh. It's too bad most of that interest doesn't seem to last 'til high school later for your school :T

[courage7856]

I am so not surprised to see this thread has already exploded. Of course I'd be late getting to the party.

We haven't started quite yet, but our coach is next door to my AP Bio class, so I see her every day. Rumor is, we're getting a second coach who is a physics teacher, so that could be interesting. We haven't talked too much about the season yet, but I'd assume we're doing CLC and Loyola Invites like normal, and then CLC Regionals. I also wish we could do Hinsdale over CLC but 1.Our team would never be ready in time and 2. CLC is right down the street and our coach went to school there, so it would be awkward if we didn't go (though that doesn't stop our band director for refusing to go to their marching showcase every year)

This will also be a big year for our school due to the 7 senior rule. We had 7 juniors on Varsity last year who all did well enough to keep their spots, but at least 3 on JV who will be upset if they don't get on Varsity this year. However, all of the former Varsity seniors did SciOly in middle school, and then one of the JV'ers started freshman year, and the other 2 sophomore year, so it seems fair.

I'm anticipating R and M, Forestry, Forensics, and WQ again. Wish I could fire my returning partners, but I doubt that'll happen. At least hopefully I can get better ones for R and M and WQ. I know who I'd like to get anyway.

[mrsteven]

After looking at the rules I'm thinking about taking Forensics too, the identifying portion is a cake walk since they...
1. limit the compounds possible
2. tell you there is no mixtures and
3. all substances have a clear 1 or 2 step qual scheme to identify

... and I can have someone else do the finger-printy-type stuff

So who's ready for this season to start already?

[Skink]

I am so not surprised to see this thread has already exploded. Of course I'd be late getting to the party.

Hi, courage. Haha, you should have seen last year's topic...it's gone now, but you could say it exploded.

This will also be a big year for our school due to the 7 senior rule. We had 7 juniors on Varsity last year who all did well enough to keep their spots, but at least 3 on JV who will be upset if they don't get on Varsity this year. However, all of the former Varsity seniors did SciOly in middle school, and then one of the JV'ers started freshman year, and the other 2 sophomore year, so it seems fair.

Send the losers to CLC? Seriously though, if those other three are motivated enough, they'll show they're *not* JV material. Otherwise, nothing changes, right? That said, there's nothing wrong with JV unless State is what they wanted...and even then there's Trial events.

Wish I could fire my returning partners, but I doubt that'll happen. At least hopefully I can get better ones for R and M and WQ. I know who I'd like to get anyway.

I think most of us have/have had our share of bad partners . I think there were some amusing rants on the matter on this site going into State last season...

[Forensics]

So who's ready for this season to start already?

Told ya!

If you mean the start of the season as-in practices, eh, sorta...if you mean the season as-in jingly medals, YEAH!

[Cheesy Pie]

@chia: I don't know how so many people are interested in scioly, but I like the level of interest these past years. Though not even 10% of the school tries out each year...

[chia]

... science activities in general are overshadowed by virtually everything else, not just sports but even speech, debate, "business" clubs like DECA ... I was thinking about how many kids are in all of the science teams at my school all together (without overlaps) and it comes out to around 50, which is a pretty abysmal turnout considering my school's population is almost 3000.

This year seems like it's taking a turn for the better, though - 50 people showed up to just Science Olympiad and many more to Schobowl than we were expecting. Still working on WYSE and JETS though, mostly because those only meet once a month so it's easy for people to forget about them >_>

[Skink]

What's JETS? <b>J</b>unior <b>E</b>ducational <b>T</b>riathlon of <b>S</b>cience? I made that up...