J.T. Lambert Intermediate School



The John T. Lambert Intermediate School (JTL) team is located just outside the borough of East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. This school is located in the East Stroudsburg Area School District. They participate in the competitive Northeast region. They qualified for states for nine straight years from 2007-2015, and placed in the top 10 of the state in five of six years from 2008-2013. They feed into East Stroudsburg High School South.

School Info
J.T. Lambert is a school that teaches 6th, 7th, and 8th graders, and the team therefore composes of students from these grades (they have rarely, if ever, had 9th graders on the team). The school was built in 1992 to help with the large increase of students, and it is now one of two intermediate schools in the district. There are an approximate 1,200 students who attend this school, and they pride themselves on academic excellence and character education. Their mascot is the Cavalier, and their colors are purple and white, both of which are the same as the South high school.

History
(*an event was not held, so the score is out of 22 events)
 * total scores are in parentheses
 * invitational names are in brackets
 * X- event was canceled due to inclement weather

The Early Years
The first several years of the team's existence, the team was not as competitive as they are at the present time. Most of the time, they placed in the bottom half of their region, as they were only serious about a few of the events. It was thought of more as a casual club than a true team. The results were so terrible that they cannot be posted on the table.

2003-2006
In 2003, however, a new trend was started. The new coach, who was formerly an assistant, started to make the team a contender in their region. These first two years were the beginnings of a competitor. In 02-03 the team seemingly came out of nowhere to finish 10th at states, led by two especially dedicated 7th graders. The next year, they built on this, finishing 2nd in the region and 6th at states, again led by the same participants, now 8th graders. This let many teams in Pennsylvania know that a new team had emerged from its cocoon into being one of the better teams in the state.

After these team leaders graduated, however, the team went into two years of struggling, finishing 9th and 7th in the two years, respectively. Since the state qualification mark was the top 6 in the region (now top 5), they missed the cut both years. The team was mostly forgotten outside the region, and the years of success they had were starting to be considered as a fluke.

2007-2008
Later, however, a new core of students led the team back into respectability. The hungry team made states by placing 5th in the region, and made a decent impression at states, finishing 11th. This was quite good for a team that had not visited states for three years, but they had loftier goals than placing eleventh. They wanted to break the top 10 and be recognized to the entire state. The next year, led by two 8th grade co-captains (one of which was EASTstroudsburg13) they worked hard towards their goal. During the competition season, they entered the pantheon of top teams in the state, finishing 4th in the region and 6th in the state, tying their best state finish ever at that point. Their score at states, 256, remains the best score at states ever for JTL. Hawke245, hemi382, airplanesrule, and starsky133 were members of both of these teams. 49ers and NEO Awesomeness were also members of the 2008 team.

2009-2010
After the departure of a highly successful eighth grade core, the past year's team tried to establish itself as a constant force. They continued their winning streak at regionals, again finishing 4th and gaining 11 medals altogether. After this success, they set their sights on trying to improve for the state competition. There, they finished in 9th place, once again making an impact among the top teams in the state. In doing so they proved that they are a team to watch, but because they had most of the team returning, they set their sights on even higher glory the coming year.

The core of the team entered 2010 knowing about their potential to do well in states, and new sixth graders only boosted hopes. The turnout was very high in the beginning, sometimes reaching almost 30 people at meetings. Thanks to a more efficient process for choosing team members and preparing for events and a greater sense of commitment instilled by their coach, chances for placing well looked brighter than ever. However, as the regional competition neared, hopes started to dim a little as some events were not as strong as they would have preferred them to be.

At the regional competition, the team got 1st out of 21 teams and medaled in 15 out of the 22 events held. This feat can be seen as slightly more impressive when the fact that only three medals for each event were given out, as opposed to the original four. Had they distributed four medals as in previous years, the team would have received 18 out of 22 medals. This finish slightly boosted their confidence in the coming states. At the state finals, the team placed 5th, which was in the top 5 for the first time in school history. They were only 3 points behind the 4th place team and region rival Greater Nanticoke. Users on these teams were 49ers, karatekid44, yoyosciencekid23, tvmoggie33 and NEO Awesomeness. Hemi382 participated in 2009. EASTstroudsburg13 also acted as a student coach.

2011-2013
2011 marked a changing of the guard for the J.T. Lambert team. The eighth graders that had led the team had now moved on to the high school and the remaining middle schoolers had to rebuild to create another hard-working group. In the first invitational ever for J.T. Lambert, they placed 8th overall and 6th of all schools (some schools brought multiple teams). These results are commendable considering the rebuilding effort. Their next competition was the Comet Invitational, where the team placed 2nd out of four teams, only losing out to Wyoming Area Middle School by two points. From there the team had to build on their experience in order to extend the streak of state appearances.

At regionals, the team overcame any doubts of experience by placing first for the second year in a row. This finish was fueled by the knowledge of experienced eighth graders combined with the efforts of new, hard-working sixth graders. This sixth-grade core bodes well for J.T. Lambert teams in the future. From there, the team worked hard to try to compete with the traditional heavyweights of states. They placed a respectable 10th, marking the 4th straight year J.T. Lambert has made the top 10 teams at states. karatekid44 and tvmoggie33 both participated on this team.

In 2012, the team hoped that experience gained last year paid off and could overcome any losses to the high school team. However, a lack of eighth graders prove to be a challenge, as the majority of the team was new and was not aware of the work required to do well. After the Rustin Invitational was cancelled due to inclement weather, the team competed at Comet and was given a wake-up call caused by their less-then-stellar performance. From there, it was not a matter of defending their title, but simply managing to qualify for states. Especially with the influx of Park Forest Middle School and Mount Nittany Middle School into the region, a sixth consecutive state berth seemed on the bubble. Even during regionals, there were few events that seemed to have really excelled, and anxieties were there. In the end, though, their effort was enough to get fourth in the region.

Following a tough regional competition, the team knew it would be difficult to excel in states as it had in previous years. Through hard work in the days leading up to the competition, the team was able to balance out most of its events and place 13th overall, which was quite good considering the adversity it had to endure. There were also two medal winners at states, one in Rocks and Minerals and one in Storm the Castle. Rissapf13, isaysroar and Nerdgirl314 were members of this team.

2013 started off as a possibly resurgent year for J.T. Lambert. Most of the team was returning, and had the experience of two years of regionals and states. With hard work, they could return to contending in the top 10 of the state. As they competed at the Rustin and Comet Invitationals, this prospect became more and more realistic as they put up strong showings. With continued work until regionals, another strong place seemed possible.

At regionals, J.T. Lambert received medals in 13 out of the 23 medals, so an excellent place seemed imminent. In the end, they finished second to Abington Heights Middle School, but it was still an impressive finish. This finish puts the team in good position to succeed at the state competition.

The team prepared dutifully for the competition, hoping to edge out Regional rival Abington Heights Middle School. The team succeeded in accomplishing this goal, placing 7th in the state, just ahead of Abington Heights. The team medaled in just one event, a fifth place in Keep the Heat. however the teamwas very close to medaling in several events, placing 6th in Helicopters, Rocks and Minerals, and Write It Do It. The team also placed 7th and 8th in several other events.

2014-Present
In 2014, the team was forced to deal with the loss of an invaluable 8th grade class. The team faced many difficulties in filling in these positions, but they felt that the team would be prepared for regionals.

At the regional competiton, J.T. Lambert's team put up a good showing, and qualified for states by taking 5th in the competition. Members of the team received nine total medals, such as a 1st place in Boomilever, and several 2nd places in Crime Busters, Entomology, Helicopter, Road Scholar, and Wheeled Vehicle. The team also medaled in Anatomy, Meteorology, and Rocks and Minerals.

In 2015, the J.T. Lambert team extended their streak of states appearances to 9 years. However, in 2016, this streak would sadly come to an end, as diminishing support for the Science Olympiad program and a lack of experienced members caused the team to struggle. Currently, the team is in a state of flux, and the future of the team's coaching, and overall existence, may be in question.

Other Competitions
Before 2011, the only competition this team participated in was the regional level competition, and states if they managed to get there. They had never competed in any invitationals before then. In 2011, however, they attended the inaugural Rustin Invitational and the Comet Invitational. They attended Comet again in 2012, but could not attend Rustin due to inclement weather.

Fun Facts

 * In general, J.T. Lambert has an intense rivalry with Stroudsburg Junior High School, and this carries over to Science Olympiad somewhat. The rivalry in sports is even more intense in the high school.
 * Also, the second period of JTL's success coincided with Stroudsburg's fall from being perennial national qualifier. Since JTL started their streak of six straight state appearances, Stroudsburg has not qualified for nationals.
 * Ironically, the co-captain of the team in 2008 (not EASTstroudsburg13) moved into Stroudsburg's school boundaries in high school, and then participated on their team.
 * At regionals, the 2008 and 2009 teams got the exact same place and score. However, the 2008 team had to compete in more events than the 2009 team. (23-22)
 * The team holds "runoffs" for each event to determine who makes the team. Once the results are found, the people who do well in multiple events are chosen for the team first and the rest of the spots are filled in.
 * At meetings, Science Olympiad is usually referred to as "Science O".
 * On the way back from the 2008 state competition, the team's bus broke down, and they had to wait about two hours for another bus to arrive. They got back to the school at around 2 AM. EASTstroudsburg13 now thinks this entire situation was rather amusing, contrary to the opinions of some other members (49ers).
 * At 2009 states, a box containing the team's plane was inadvertently tripped over and was damaged badly. However, the event participants (hemi382 and yoyosciencekid23), along with another team member, were able to fix the plane and recover for a ninth place finish.
 * The 2009 team shirt featured a drawing on the front based on this xkcd comic.
 * Between 2008 and 2010, J.T. Lambert Took 6th at States in Road Scholar all three times. 49ers was one of the competitors all three times.

Users
The following scioly.org users participate or have participated in this school's team:


 * EASTstroudsburg13
 * Hawke245
 * airplanesrule
 * starsky133
 * hemi382
 * 49ers
 * yoyosciencekid23
 * NEO Awesomeness
 * karatekid44
 * tvmoggie33
 * Nerdgirl314
 * Rissapf13

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

Useful Sites

 * School Site
 * District Site
 * Northeastern Region site
 * Pennsylvania SO Site