Trip 9

 
            How do you explain a Science Olympiad competition to someone who has never been there?  I don’t properly know, but I will attempt.

            We got up at a nice 5:30 AM.  I left to the campus soon after in an attempt to practice Wheeled Vehicle.  But unfortunately I forgot about practice and impounded the vehicle.  So I waited for my turn with Kelvin.  When it came we went in and messed everything up.  Oh well, I proceeded to Can’t Judge a Powder by it’s Color, where you analyze a powder and list it’s color, size, etc.  We hadn’t practiced that in almost a month so we did rather badly.  But we had expected that.  Picture This, the next event, was very different.  We had been studying for that event as if our life depended on it.  We got 17 out of 21, not terrible, but not winning either.  After a lunch break I headed over to Road Scholar, the one we had the best chance in.  The judge for this contest likes to write interesting stories to go along with his tests.  Unfortunately, the stories are often so large and elaborate that you have to skip over them to get to the questions.  From the glimpses that I got this one looked rather funny, it had the National Science Olympiad director stealing a horse from a board member.  The board member then chases him through a certain town.  Like I said, entertaining.  When we completed that test the competition was over for me, so I had to wait for the awards ceremony at 5:00.

            The Awards Ceremony is the best and worst part of any Science Olympiad competition.  It is the worst because of the tension.  Sitting there with your team waiting for the scores to be announced can put anyone on the edge.  Additionally, the announcers have an annoying habit of wasting time, causing more anxiety.  They have to talk about this, then about that, then they do other awards, then they talk more, it easily drives people nuts.  But it is the best part when the tension goes away, in other words, when you start getting medals.  Which reminds me that---- I didn’t get any.  However, 9th out of 54 is pretty good for Picture This.  In Road Scholar we got 12th.  So we didn’t do perfectly, but okay. 

            Lesson?  National competitions are hard; if you want to win you have to work like you do.  Dedication is what counts for this contest, and most others.