Team of the Week Archive

This page contains copies of previous Team of the Week articles/posts.

2016 Season
Team of the Week was revived for the 2016 season on January 13th, 2016. The post announcing it may be viewed here.

Week 1 - 1/17/16
Team of the Week: John P. Stevens High School
 * View the post here
 * 

General Information:
 * School Name: John P. Stevens High School
 * School/Team Mascot: Hawk
 * Division: C
 * City: Edison
 * State: NJ

How long has your school had a Science Olympiad team?
 * "Since 2009, so 8 years."

About how many students participate in your program?
 * "About 30-40 students participate in Science Olympiad in our school. It’s a fairly medium-sized club, although there are some clubs that are much bigger (such as FBLA and Odyssey of the Mind)."

Does your team hold tryouts? If so, describe them.
 * "Our team does hold tryouts. Tryouts are done using tests, the results of which will be consulted to make up the regionals and states teams."

How are practices structured for your team?
 * "We usually have about 2-3 practices a week. The practices are usually from 4-6 PM, although some can be from 2:45-4 PM depending on library and student availability. the practices are used as study sessions; for members to have specialized time to prepare for their events."

Does your team have captains? If so, how are they selected? How many are there? What are their duties as captain?
 * "Our team does have captains. There are usually 2 captains, and they were chosen by having prospective candidates fill out an application talking about the experience in Science Olympiad, how they can be a proper leader for Science Olympiad, and other necessary questions to verify that our club is brought under competent leadership. The prospective candidates also need to get 2 recommendations from science teachers using forms given to them by the coaches. Their duties are to pick members for the teams for regionals and states and coordinate tryouts and information sending to the rest of the team."

How do coaches function in your team?
 * "Coaches are responsible for the connection to administration regarding registering for competition, getting school buses ready, managing finances so that they can reimburse build team members at the end of the school year, and overall holding the fort down so that nothing “too” crazy happens."

List any of your team’s past accolades:
 * "3rd Place at 2015 NJ States
 * 4 straight events getting 1st in Towers (2011 Regionals, 2011 States, 2012 Regionals, 2012 States)
 * 1st Place at 2011 Camden County Regionals
 * 1st Place Protein Modeling 2012 States, 1st Place WIDI 2014 States, 1st Place Dynamic Planet 2014 States, 2nd Place Astronomy 2015 Union County College Regionals
 * Full list of accomplishments: "

Share a funny story or two about your team:
 * "1) Our piano broke on our way to States 2012, and the team members responsible for Sounds of Music that competition had to makeshift repairs (we got 21st, which is explained by the lack of proper piano).
 * 2) On the tryout test for experimental design, I believe the prompt was to try to melt an ice cube or something like that, and one of our team members trying out wrote as part of the supplies needed “H-Bomb” (like literally a hydrogen bomb). Everyone was cracking up after that happened, and the term came up as a suggestion for the nickname for his T-shirt."

What are the team's expectations for the coming season of competition?
 * "Get to Nationals and (finally) beat West Windsor-Plainsboro North and South!"

Week 2 - 1/24/16
Team of the Week: Ladue High School
 * View the post here
 * 

Wow, Sunday already. You know what that means; it's time for the new Team of the Week! Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for the Rams from Ladue High School in St. Louis, Missouri!

Ladue High School's Science Olympiad team started in the late 80's, but the program sadly came to a halt after 1992. However, the program was brought back in the 2008 season after a fifteen year hiatus. The program is generally average-sized, with about twenty students participating.

Two sets of tryouts are held each year for Ladue. The tests are written by teachers who specialize in the subject of the event. Practices for the team are held at the middle school about once a week. They are generally used for collaborating with other team members. The coach orders pizza for those who pay for it if the meeting goes late. The team's coach provides his room for practices and makes sure nothing too dangerous goes down. The team has two senior captains who are chosen by the coach based on the level of dedication they have shown to the program. These captains are responsible for making sure practices remain productive and boosting team morale. As a tradition, the job of one of the captains is to be the “rapper” or “mixtape artist” and s/he is constantly spitting fire.

The team has been quite successful, having qualified for nationals twice in it's four years of existence from 1989 to 1992, in addition to every single year since it restarted in 2008, where they have reached as high as 16th place. This year, the team is aiming to try to place first at the Missouri State Competition and in the top twenty at nationals, a goal that forum member Magikarpmaster629 thinks is becoming realized more and more each day.

Links

 * Old Team of the Week archives via the Wayback Machine


 * Application Document for 2016