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hscmom wrote:

treeling wrote:My proudest moment was Metric medal at Nats.
It was awesome.

Other moments have come close though.
A gold medal at reginols when I was in the 4th grade.
Beating my brother at Mission Possible (2012 competition year). Then my brother beat the team that got 1st at Nats.
Getting 4 medal at reginols (2013 competition year).

But the BEST was my Nats. medal.

The Aquifer 5th place a few years back when you and Abigail made the edible aquifer was pretty cool too. Remember the chef's hats and aprons? You were just having fun on the JV team and you did terrific. What were you two, 9 and 11 then?

She might of still been 8. I was 11 though.

LAST SEASON: mousetrap vehicle was 16th at regional and we took the gold at states!
THIS YEAR: i picked up write it do it b/c someone had a conflict and didn't realize until we were at the invitational comp, we took gold there too!

So far? Winning 1st in my regional tournament, freshman year, in gravity vehicle all by myself.

Edible aquifer? We didn't take photos but we found it online and enhanced it a bit. These two young ladies were on our JV team and decided to do Aquifer "for fun" (nobody else doing it, a few weeks til competition, etc.).

The girls learned to make aquifers in a clear cup. They had M&Ms (or was it marshmallows) in the bottom, a round (Skinny Cow?) ice cream sandwich for the confining layer (sealed up with that Magic Shell stuff). Sierra Mist (like sprite) was the water. Chocolate chips for the rocks above the confining layers, M&Ms and food color as pollution. http://www.mines.unr.edu/museum/activit ... QUIFER.pdf was the starting point. It just grew from there.

They wore fancy aprons and chefs hats and brought a cooler into competition. I think they got points for cuteness, but they DID know their stuff.

After their demo, they squirted whipped cream and put one of those little paper drink umbrellas in it and handed it, and a plastic spoon, to the judge, a college student who ate it in 30 seconds or so.

Sometimes it was really messy and the confining layer melted. I don't think I'd recommend it for a competitive team, but it was totally FUN for a pair of little kids.

It did make a pretty noticeable dent on our family grocery budget because every time they practiced, they ate the results. They'd always practice twice so each got a huge messy sweet treat each time they got together.

Thanks for sharing! I've always meant to do something exactly as you've described with my team but never got around to it. I think I've been aversive due to the mess factor when this event already has a large amount of clean-up. But definitely trying this when it's back in rotation (or sooner if we're looking for something to do 'for fun' )...

hscmom wrote:After their demo, they squirted whipped cream and put one of those little paper drink umbrellas in it and handed it, and a plastic spoon, to the judge, a college student who ate it in 30 seconds or so.

Best part. We college students will never turn down free food.

That's a great Science Olympiad story. Learning about aquifers and having fun doing it! What's not to like?

EastStroudsburg13 wrote: That's a great Science Olympiad story. Learning about aquifers and having fun doing it! What's not to like?

The grocery bill!

Jokin'. One of the best things about having a JV team is the low/no pressure aspect "Go and have fun." It was messy (messier than rocks and clay) but tons of fun and the kids made a fantastic memory.

Plus, I think the supervisors enjoyed something different than rocks. Not only was there a college kid, but there was an older lady (probably in her 40s or 50s) who recognized me in the hall later that day and she stopped me and said, "Oh those little aquifer girls did a fantastic job." That made MY day.

As a coach, it's hard to get across to the kids that this really can be fun...

I have to say my proudest moment was regionals competition last year.
Our team medaled in all of our events except 3, and got 1st overall. Also, I got 1st in Experimental Design which was my first first place medal ever so I was pumped.
Either that or two years ago when I did the anatomy test by myself, and got 2nd at state. First of all, MI is a super competitive state, as we have a couple teams who are top 5 every year at nationals, and that was only one of three medals for our team that year (we did kinda bad haha). That 2nd was the best moment ever, and my highest placing medal at state.

The best is when you medal (and not just a medal, a gold!!) at states when you hear your coach (to the other coach) the day before the comp. saying "*Event* is going to be a disaster"

It was great. The look on my coach's face
lol

This year I got 3 first place medals and 6th place at the Solon invitational.