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I'm really sad right now that I'm a senior and done with Science Olympiad in High School, but I am heading to the University of Michigan and I want to continue working with Science Olympiad. I was thinking of attempting to start a Science Olympiad invitational with other former SciOly students.

I'm curious - would any high schools (Michigan or elsewhere) be interested in attending an invitational at the University of Michigan if one were able to be put together? It would probably be division C only for the first year. I was thinking maybe a January or February invitational - one that wouldn't conflict with major invitationals like Frankenmuth, Eastside, Allendale, and West Ottawa. The goal would be for student alumni and/or professors to run the events and write the tests so that coaches wouldn't have to. I would do my best to make sure that the tests are challenging and fair - there is nothing I hate more than a bad test in Science Olympiad!

Nothing has been planned or set in stone or anything - I'm just curious to see if there's interest before I go about trying to get it all planned. Thanks!

On a similar note, if you are a student at Michigan or going to Michigan this year and are also interested in trying to run an invitational there, PM me!

MIScioly1 wrote:On a similar note, if you are a student at Michigan or going to Michigan this year and are also interested in trying to run an invitational there, PM me!

They're pretty busy but ask scioly users AlphaTauri and syo_astro. They both attend U of M, and might be interested.

As far as date conflicts are concerned, you also really need to look at Ohio invites. Between Ohio and Michigan, every single weekend of January or February will have an invite (and some regional tournaments, if you start looking towards the end of February).

John Richardsim wrote:As far as date conflicts are concerned, you also really need to look at Ohio invites. Between Ohio and Michigan, every single weekend of January or February will have an invite (and some regional tournaments, if you start looking towards the end of February).

^agreed. However, you may be able to get a date where the other tournaments are sufficiently small/far away that you can get good interest. If not, there's always March 10th, since WL-S is usually the week before (and WL-S only has like 20 teams per division, so you might even manage it then).

John Richardsim wrote:As far as date conflicts are concerned, you also really need to look at Ohio invites. Between Ohio and Michigan, every single weekend of January or February will have an invite (and some regional tournaments, if you start looking towards the end of February).

Yeah, I had concerns about that. I don't want to try to "compete" with another invitational. I was thinking that, if this were able to get done this coming year (which as of right now I have no idea, it would be a large task for sure), maybe I would try to make it February 17, because from what I remember from competing there, I think the Ionia invitational usually draws mostly from the local area, and I don't see any notable Ohio invites that day. It would have to work with the University too, of course. I believe the first Michigan regional competition is the following weekend.

I would try for December, but I don't think many teams are ready to compete then. Other possible dates would be January 13 (competes with the Kenston invitational in Ohio), January 20 (would compete with Clio so not ideal), or February 3 (not sure what it would compete with on that day - possibly West Ottawa).

MIScioly1 wrote:

John Richardsim wrote:As far as date conflicts are concerned, you also really need to look at Ohio invites. Between Ohio and Michigan, every single weekend of January or February will have an invite (and some regional tournaments, if you start looking towards the end of February).

Yeah, I had concerns about that. I don't want to try to "compete" with another invitational. I was thinking that, if this were able to get done this coming year (which as of right now I have no idea, it would be a large task for sure), maybe I would try to make it February 17, because from what I remember from competing there, I think the Ionia invitational usually draws mostly from the local area, and I don't see any notable Ohio invites that day. It would have to work with the University too, of course. I believe the first Michigan regional competition is the following weekend.

I would try for December, but I don't think many teams are ready to compete then. Other possible dates would be January 13 (competes with the Kenston invitational in Ohio), January 20 (would compete with Clio so not ideal), or February 3 (not sure what it would compete with on that day - possibly West Ottawa).

Mentor is on February 17th next year. I would recommend the Kenston date, since Kenston usually doesn't attract as many teams from outside of the Cleveland area (in Div C).

Unome wrote:

MIScioly1 wrote:

John Richardsim wrote:As far as date conflicts are concerned, you also really need to look at Ohio invites. Between Ohio and Michigan, every single weekend of January or February will have an invite (and some regional tournaments, if you start looking towards the end of February).

Yeah, I had concerns about that. I don't want to try to "compete" with another invitational. I was thinking that, if this were able to get done this coming year (which as of right now I have no idea, it would be a large task for sure), maybe I would try to make it February 17, because from what I remember from competing there, I think the Ionia invitational usually draws mostly from the local area, and I don't see any notable Ohio invites that day. It would have to work with the University too, of course. I believe the first Michigan regional competition is the following weekend.

I would try for December, but I don't think many teams are ready to compete then. Other possible dates would be January 13 (competes with the Kenston invitational in Ohio), January 20 (would compete with Clio so not ideal), or February 3 (not sure what it would compete with on that day - possibly West Ottawa).

Mentor is on February 17th next year. I would recommend the Kenston date, since Kenston usually doesn't attract as many teams from outside of the Cleveland area (in Div C).

That's good to know. Mentor is certainly a big invitational. I don't think Michigan has any invites on January 13 so that's good.

Yo I'm attending Michigan next year and I'd definitely be down to help! Add me to your mailing list or whatever

kenniky wrote:Yo I'm attending Michigan next year and I'd definitely be down to help! Add me to your mailing list or whatever

Awesome! I'll send you a PM with personal info and my Michigan email. Anyone else heading to Michigan next year interested?