I'm a proud(?) alumus of Science Olympiad. Our School with a student body of 600, barely had a science olympiad team, and had a Knowledgemasters team that went on two quiz-bowl like tournaments during the four years I was there. What I'm saying is that my experiences are probably not representative at all. And if it matters, it's a high school in Long Island, where there are many other teams doing Science olympiad. The Suffolk County regionals were held at SUNY stony brook every year. Proud to say I'm a three medal Olympiad :-) 1.) What events did you participate in? From what I remember, three events is the maximum. I did the Rube Goldberg contraption event for 3/4 years, by modifying the design of the Freshman year contraption (placed second) for whatever requirement they threw at us. Other events that I can remember are: Rube Goldberg (9, 10, 11) Rocks Minerals, fossils (9) Metric Mastery (9, 10) discontinued 1998? Some biology event (10, 11) Some Chemistry event (11, 12) What are you trying to tell me, where one analyzes data they throw at us. (12) 2.) How many other students were on your team? I remember about fifteen or so kids going... although my memory is kinda hazy on that. 3.) How many hours per week did the team (beyond those spent in science class during the school day) spend "practicing" or working on SO-related stuff/ Zero for any event that didn't require working on a project. (Like I said, we might be different than most teams) and for building projects, I remember spending an average of 10 hours a week for about 6-10 weeks. Granted, this was for the Rube Goldberg machine, which took more work than some others. 4.) How did you team compare to others in your region/state? I think our team's best finishes were fifth in my sophomore year, and 11th in my freshman year, out of a region of about 40 schools. 5.) What did you like most about SO? I kicked ass in Metric Mastery until they got rid of it. I placed 2nd and 4th in my freshman and sophomore years. Rube goldberg contraption was pretty fun as well. 6.) What did you like least about it? I remember complaining every year about the organization, the way it took so long to get the results out at the end of the day, and the lack of divulging the individual event standings. They just tell you what the placement is, and that's it. 7.) What was the biggest train-wreck that you witnessed at any particular competition? Hm... I can't think of any that stand out. But one year my team has a minor fiasco involving baking soda and vinegar concoction that accidentally mixed together that was part of our rube goldberg machine. 8.) Did Science Olympiad competition dates ever coincide with quiz bowl tournament dates? How was this resolved? Was there any friction between the SO adviser and the QB coach? No, this never happened. SO was once a year, and QB was once every two years.
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