East Stroudsburg High School South



The East Stroudsburg High School South team is located in the borough of East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. Their sibling school, J.T. Lambert Intermediate School, has tended to be more successful than them, but the team is growing. They participate in the Northeast region at Penn State-Wilkes Barre.

School Info
East Stroudsburg South is one of two high schools in East Stroudsburg Area School District (with the other being East Stroudsburg High School North). The school contains 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th graders, and the student community is very culturally diverse. Over 1,500 students attend this school. There are over 20 sports teams and over 25 clubs, not including Science Olympiad. Due to the steady increase of students, the school has finished undergoing a massive renovation, which involved the demolition of the historic J.S. Bunnell School, which was located on the school grounds. This renovation was finished at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year. Their mascot is the Cavalier and their colors are purple and white.

History

 * total scores are in parentheses
 * X: event was canceled due to inclement weather

2004-2008
When they were officially founded in the 2004-2005 year, the East Stroudsburg South team naturally struggled and finished 25th. The next couple years were not much better, as they placed 19th and 17th, respectively. However, in 2008, they proved that they may become team to be reckoned with, as they finished 9th, just two places behind the qualification mark. This team was filled with motivated seniors, and they seemed to establish a point from which the team could continue to improve.

2009-2012
The team's decent showing in 2008 was a cause for hope that maybe they would be able to finally reach states in 2009. However, they fell short of their goals, having a lackluster showing at the MVC/LVC Tournament and failing to make a dent at regionals, with only two medals to show for their attempt. The loss of the seniors simply proved too much to overcome. Nevertheless, with the J.T. Lambert team being successful in recent years, the freshmen on the team were hopeful that the success would carry over to the high school. EASTstroudsburg13 and Hawke245 were among the members of the 2009 team.



The 2010 season started with relatively low hopes, as many team members graduated or left the district. A small showing at early practices did not improve the look of the coming season. However, after some active recruiting, many more students signed up, mostly sophomores, and prospects looked brighter. However, despite breaking the top 10, their score improved by less than 10 points from last year. Also, there was a greater disparity between the events that they did well in and the events which were bombed, as there was only one event better than 8th place and worse than 18th. EASTstroudsburg13 and Hawke245 were members on this team.



This year began with hope that the team can finally reach the state level. The addition of an enthusiastic freshman class to a core of experienced juniors brightens chances to become more consistent in all events. Questions about numbers and how many other participants from last year would return were dispelled at the first meeting in late October, as almost a full team attended the meeting with notable exceptions due to sports or other activities. The team attended the Twin Tiers Invitational for the first time in school history, and although some team members could not attend the competition due to a PMEA District Chorus festival, the team performed admirably, placing 25th overall. At the MVC Tournament, held after a one year hiatus, the team medaled in 8 of the 10 events, placing 5th overall with a score of 63, and managing to place higher than Lehighton High School for the first time in school history.

When the team competed in the regional competition, they broke the school record for place and points at regionals, cutting almost 50 points off the previous year. However, they failed to qualify for states, finishing at a somewhat disappointing 8th, only 19 points away from making states. They demonstrated better depth than recent years, but it was not improved enough to make the school's first state appearance. EASTstroudsburg13, Hawke245, 49ers, airplanesrule, NEO Awesomeness, Starsky133, Cholly, and rsiptroth5 were members of this team.




 * *did not participate in event

The team entered the 2012 season with high hopes. Most of the previous year's had returned, and the only issue seemed to be with the glut of seniors. As the season progressed, most of the seniors remained with the team, and so the team had to split up teams for Athens and Tiger. At Athens, the team drastically improved their score and place from last year, even with Athens Area High School not counting their scores this year. They managed to place 14th in a strong field, with two events medaling and one event receiving a ribbon. They then competed at the Tiger Invitational and continued at almost the exact same pace, by once again placing in the middle of the pack and medaling in three events.

When time came to compete at the MVC Tournament, the team had the high goal of being MVC Champions. Throughout the day, the team had a good feeling about their chances, despite some mishaps. However, after the awards ceremony, Lehighton High School was crowned champion, and they were left to wonder what went wrong and why they did not win. It was not until more than two weeks later that the results came out and they realized that they had scored a record-low score of 42, only one point behind Lehighton's 41. Also, a scoring irregularity in the Forestry event revealed that Lehighton should have ended up with 44 points rather than 41, making East Stroudsburg the unofficial winner. Although they will not have a trophy for it, they have the knowledge that this year was the first year they were conference champions.

Soon after MVC's, it was finally time to compete at regionals. Although the team had performed admirably in prior tournaments, it was going to take a large effort to carry the team over the final hump of qualifying for states. Throughout the day, team members seemed pretty upbeat about their events, and no events seemed to have been bombing. Early on in the awards ceremony, it appeared that the finish for East Stroudsburg High School South would be spectacular. At the end, the medal count stood at 13 out of 23, which was a drastic improvement over the previous year's five. It seemed impossible that they would miss states this year. As the names were being read off, though, they had still not been announced, and worries of somehow missing states again rose once more. Finally, when it came to announce second place, the name of East Stroudsburg South was finally mentioned as a state qualifier, finishing second only to the dominant Athens Area High School and coming away with their first trophy. After years of toiling to rise in regionals, they had done enough to move on for the first time.

After having made states, the team hoped to continue improving and perform well there. They kept true to this goal by cracking the top 10 in their first-ever state appearance, which included three medals. It was a fitting close to the most successful era in team history.

Team members on this team are EASTstroudsburg13, Hawke245, 49ers, tvmoggie33, airplanesrule, NEO Awesomeness, Starsky133, and rsiptroth5.

2013
The 2012-2013 season will mark a new era in South's history. Much like 2009, the team will have to deal with the loss of several experienced seniors. However, this time, almost every member on the team will have had states experience in either JTL or the high school, and the team will once again attend competitions before regionals. These may allow the team to have some staying power in the coming years.

Other Competitions
Other than the usual Northeastern regional competition at Penn State-Wilkes Barre, the team also participates in the MVC/Lehigh Valley Tournament. They also attend the Twin Tiers Invitational at Athens Area High School and the Tiger Invitational.

MVC/LVC Tournament
The MVC/Lehigh Valley (Mountain Valley Conference/Lehigh Valley) Tournament is usually held near the end of February or beginning of March. It is used to crown the champions for both conferences. About 14 teams normally participate: 5 from the MVC, East Stroudsburg South's conference, and 7-10 from the LVC. Only 10 of the 23 events are held, and these events are usually more chemistry or biology oriented. This shortened schedule allows teams to return to their schools before the end of the school day, but it puts teams who are strong in earth science at a disadvantage.

The highest the team has ever placed was in 2012, in which they unofficially placed first in the MVC and third overall with 42 points, only behind Allentown Central Catholic High School's 36 and Whitehall High School's 39.

The 2010 tournament was canceled due to inclement weather.

Twin Tiers Invitational
The team first competed at the Twin Tiers Invitational in 2011, as a way to give experience and practice to those who were new to Science Olympiad. Naturally, the team struggled, only placing in the top half in one event (Write It Do It). A few members, including Eaststroudsburg13 and 49ers could not attend, since they were at the PMEA District X Chorus Festival.

The team competed at Athens once again in 2012, and they greatly improved their score. Although they were helped by absences of teams to the Battle of Valley Forge and Athens Area High School not counting their scores, they still had better statistics in almost every aspect.

The team hopes that attendance at Athens will become a yearly occurrence.

Tiger Invitational
The team competed in the Tiger Invitational for the first time in 2012. It offered another opportunity for team members to prepare and gain experience. Once again, the team's participation this competition will hopefully become a yearly occurrence, especially since it is the closest invitational held to East Stroudsburg.

Fun Facts

 * East Stroudsburg South is known for its heated rivalry with Stroudsburg High School, and this carries over to Science Olympiad. However, so far this has been a friendly rivalry, partially due to the long history of success Stroudsburg has enjoyed and the much more recent emergence of East Stroudsburg.
 * They also have somewhat of a rivalry with Lehighton High School, but it is friendly as well.
 * In 2012 states, when the team placed 10th, they had 10 events place in the top 10.

Users
The following users currently participate or have participated in Science O at this school:


 * CAVcoach (coach)
 * EASTstroudsburg13
 * Hawke245
 * 49ers
 * airplanesrule
 * Starsky133
 * NEO Awesomeness
 * rsiptroth5
 * Cholly
 * tvmoggie33

Users can put this userbox on their pages by copying and pasting the text below:

Useful Sites

 * School site
 * District site
 * Northeastern Regional site
 * Pennsylvania SO site