User:Likearecord
| Likearecord | |
|---|---|
| General Information | |
| Years in SO | 2 |
| Current Team | The Bay Academy |
| Grade | 8th |
| State | New York |
| Division | B |
| Medals | |
| Total medals | 28
|
| Competitor Info | |
| Competitions attended | 13
|
| Events competed in | 6 |
An 8th grader attending Bay Academy in Brooklyn, New York, this is Likearecord's third year in SciOly. Throughout junior high, the majority of the events they attempted were ID-based. Some went well; others. . . well, we don't speak of them.
8th Grade (2023-2024 Season)
Praying for nats.
7th Grade (2022-2023 Season)
This year was. . . not awful, surprisingly. They weren't expecting much, due to cycling viciously between hating and loving SciOly in 6th grade, but now that they knew what they were doing, had access to in-person invitationals (which were a blast and headache combined), and grown closer with old friends and made new ones from other schools (most notably the lovely Tx358 and Kokonattsu), it was a great deal of fun. They may have also done some things that were. . . a tad questionable and incredibly idiotic at times (*cough* nearly getting in a study event *cough*) but that was neither here nor there.
Event Overview
Codebusters: They only ever did this event for Springhouse Invitational and it haunts their dreams as the thing they would have gotten first place in if they weren't stupid and inserted the keyword of a Porta cipher in wrong.
Experimental Design: This is either their favorite event or the Devil's reincarnate, they're still not sure. Overall, they definitely do better in it than, say, Forestry (🤮) but the fact their partners for it changed Constantly and one of them was downright useless caused them quite a bit of headache. They do have a passion for ExpD, though, and would love to do it again for the 2024 season.
Forestry: To say they hated this event would be too much and a blatant lie. To say they, uh, nearly destroyed their binder on several instances and cursed the Pine Family from dusk 'til dawn is a more settling truth. But, hey, motivation for next year? This is a bald-faced lie and they're not sorry.
Road Scholar: Originally, this was meant to be yet another event they did once and was done with soon after. Buuut their team needed a fill-in for Regionals and States and they're a try-hard. They liked this event a lot more than they expected to, and it quickly became one of their favorites - though it's very likely this was only due to the fact their partner was a good friend of theirs.
Rocks and Minerals: As much as they complained about every other event they did, they loved this one. Nothing else needs to be said.
Tournament Discussion
| Event | Bayard Rustin Sat. | LISO | Springhouse | Cornell | BirdSO Sat. | Regionals | States | Average Placement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Codebusters | N/A | N/A | 2nd | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 2nd |
| Experimental Design | 10th | 1st | 2nd | 2nd | 8th | 2nd | 1st | 3.71st |
| Forestry | 15th | N/A | 1st | N/A | 43rd | 2nd | N/A | 15.25th |
| Road Scholar | N/A | 16th | N/A | N/A | N/A | 2nd | 6th | 7.67th |
| Rocks and Minerals | 5th | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 21st | 3rd | 2nd | 5.14th |
| Total # of Teams | 61 | 41 | 12 | 16 | 164 | 29 | 40 | |
Bayard Rustin (Satellite): As the first invitational of the season, and a satellite invitational no less, no one on the team had very high hopes. Well, no one Likearecord spoke to, at least. They remember very little about the tests themselves, only that Rocks and Minerals was deceptively easy and Experimental Design was plain stupid with the topic (not that they remember what it was. . .). The Forestry test was the second or third they had ever taken; with such low expectations, they weren't necessarily happy about the final result, but it could have gone worse. The 5th place medal was the default one (hexagonal and bronze) but they won a pretty nifty ribbon for 10th place! (Which they, uh, lost.)
Long Island Science Olympiad: After it was canceled last year, they looked forward to competing in LISO this year. LISO also starts their favorite Forestry-Something-Conflict which meant they didn't have to do the event, instead being put in Road Scholar precisely three days before the comp with a partner who also knew nothing about the event (very fun. . .). Once again, they don't remember anything about the invitational other than the fact Rocks and Minerals made them want to commit a hate crime afterward. LISO was also, however, their first sighting of Tx358 when they were seated directly behind her during awards :D
Springhouse: Being in the middle of Pennsylvania made this invitational unlike anything they had ever witnessed before, and they spent a lot of time traversing the school halls with TheStinkyRat (a good friend of theirs also from Bay), including an especially shady one with a strange anthropomorphic animal at the end. Springhouse was also where they almost got tiered for Rocks and Minerals due to accidentally taking the test with them to their homeroom due to all 4 of their events being back-to-back and them hurrying out of the exam room~! Incredibly responsible, they know.
Cornell: Who wasn't stoked for this invitational? Their school organized it as a 2-day, 3-night trip and, needless to say, they had a great time exploring the college campus and finally speaking with Kokonattsu in-person for the first time, an amazing human from Paul J. Gelinas JHS who they had been texting online for a while. A little miffed they were only able to do two events, but they went well enough.
BirdSO Satellite: The final invitational before regionals! Let's be real, no one cared about it. Everyone was still running off the high from Cornell (seeing as this took place literally a few days after) and couldn't be bothered to study extra for it. One of their Experimental Design partners did nothing but eat gummy bears the whole time, so they did his parts along with their own. They still medaled for the event, though, and it was actually the only medal their entire team got for the invitational, so they'll count their victories where they can get them.
Regionals: Bwhahaha they messed regs up so bad. They lost to B Team twice, in both Rocks and Minerals and Experimental Design - their quote-unquote "best events" - and were pitifully carried in Road Scholar. To make matters worse, Forestry of all godforsaken things was what they did best in. . . the event they barely studied for. Furthermore: Not even a single 1st place medal, which isn't bad on its own, but considering they got 2 in 6th grade last year? Yeah, it hit hard.
States: They were somehow still on A Team after the debacle at regionals, and determined to mess things up. They were working with Gummy Bear Boy once again, which they resented, but fortunately - or unfortunately, considering he was one of 2 team captains - he dipped, and they worked with someone they liked a lot more. Their fill-in Rocks and Minerals partner is one of the loveliest people they have had the pleasure of meeting, and although she didn't know much about the event, they loved working with her. More time was planned to be spent with Kokonattsu and Tx358 but a coach-sustained house arrest meant they couldn't :( Oh, and the biggest let-down of the competition? Missing nationals by 5 points. Saying they were crushed would be an understatement.
6th Grade (2021-2022 Season)
If you haven't noticed yet, Likearecord has an awful memory, and since they're writing this a year after the original events took place, it's severely lacking in several aspects. However, they will do their best. It was either late October or early November when they were first accepted onto the Bay SciOly team, and, if they're being completely honest, it wasn't their exact intention to join in the first place. Pressure from their parents and the desire to fit in with the social circumstances of their class - where nearly everyone was trying out - pushed them to take the initial tryout tests. They made their binder and cheatsheet the day before the respective exam, and fully expected to fail. But they didn't.
Event Overview
Experimental Design: Their partners in 6th grade were both 8th graders, and unlike in the 2022 season, weren't in a state of perpetual change. In their opinion, the three of them were a solid team and every practice test was a joy (including the one where they got scolded very hard by their head coach for being idiots and almost got booted from the team. . .)
Ornithology: By the time they got placed in orni, everyone else already had at least a year of experience on them and had binders set and made. The only aspect they focused on was bird calls. The only part of Orni they use now is the knowledge that helped them and TheStinkyRat aid in the rescue of a baby bird.
Rocks and Minerals: This was where the obsession started, they suppose, but back then their specialization in Rocks had more to do with the fact it was the only event they had a chance of beating A Team at than genuine fondness. Their partner allowed them to take a more leadership role when it came to this event, considering Ornithology was her main, so it meant a lot of late nights searching up random facts.
Tournament Discussion
| Event | UCO MINI | OKSciOly MINI | BirdSO Sat. | Regionals | States | Nationals | Average Placement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Experimental Design | 3rd | 1st | 10th | 1st | 1st | 18th | 5.67th |
| Ornithology | N/A | 2nd | 61st | 3rd | 14th | 23rd | 20.60th |
| Rocks and Minerals | N/A | 1st | 25th | 1st | 6th | 19th | 10.40th |
| Total # of Teams | 35 | 30 | 206 | 19 | 40 | 60 | |
UCO MINI: The very first invitational Likearecord was ever a part of, and it took place roughly 2 1/2 weeks after they had joined the team. Yeah, it freaked them out. Originally, the coaches had them on C Team doing all three of their events, and the amount of stress they felt preparing with absolutely no experience or idea of how to make a binder nearly made them cry several times. As competition day neared, the coaches knocked them up as the 3rd person for B Team's ExpD group, and they remember being so proud because they ended up beating A Team by 2 places.
OKSciOly MINI: Up until several minutes ago when they researched the results for this invite, they had assumed it was called UCO Part 2, because that was what it felt like. Only this time, they were on A Team, and the final results had them rather pleased with themselves.
BirdSO Satellite: Oh god, this was a disaster. Let them not dwell on the fact B Team beat them by over a dozen places in Ornithology, and that they messed up monumentally on 2/3 of their events. The medal they won for Experimental Design is still one of their favorites, though.
Regionals: It was the first time they had participated in an in-person tournament, and the experience did not disappoint. Even now, though they don't remember what happened exactly, the high that they rode throughout that day still has an imprint on their mind.
States: They suppose that most people would look back on states as being better than regionals, but for them, it had just been awfully lonely. As the only 6th grader on A Team, there was really no one else to speak with but their partner and one other individual, both of whom had their own friends among the older members of the team. 2022 NY States was just Another Day, if they're being honest.
Nationals: Not that they're ungrateful for the opportunity to compete in such a revered tournament, but doing it online didn't hit as hard. To be honest, they bullcrapped all of it and have no recollection of anything other than the fact Ornithology had a concerning amount of bird bottoms.