User:Swagmcswag1223

Paul J Gelinas Science Olympiad 9th grade and Senior Captain and pretty much a nerd, and also pretty much a failure Events I have competed in: Meteorology: Severe Storms, Climate, Everyday Weather. Reach for the Stars. Dynamic Planet: Plate Tectonics. Fast Facts. Anatomy and Physiology: Digestive, Respiratory, Immune, and Cardiovascular, Lymphatic, Excretory. Circuit Lab. Elastic Launched Glider and Wright Stuff Trials: Science Quiz Bowl

About Me
2016-2017 season/7th grade

The Three Village School District is structured differently from most schools, it has middle schools as 7th-9th grade and high school as 10th-12th grade. This meant that in 6th grade I had absolutely no clue what Science Olympiad was and could not compete in 6th grade. When I got to Gelinas, I still had no clue what Science Olympiad was but my general science teacher happened to be Mr. Vorwald. If you don't know already, Mr. Vorwald had been the head coach of Gelinas Scio for more than a decade and was probably the most influential figure for Long Island Science Olympiad schools. I had always been interested in science and decided to join the club, and Mr. Vorwald gave me a brief overview of Scio one day in class. I went to the first few meetings and decided what events I was going to do. I went to the classes we had after school everyday and I ended up doing exceptionally well at tryouts. I was able to qualify for the varsity team. I don't mean to brag but, "For Gelinas, a 7th grader on the the varsity or A team was very rare," as told to me by Mr Vorwald. I was really happy to get on A team and was excited to go our first tournament, Rustin. Unfortunately, we could not go to Rustin due to weather, which was disappointing. We then hosted a mock tournament with the tests from Rustin and I took the tests with my partners and as a school we would have gotten 3rd. Next we had Blue Dragon which was the first invitational that were actually able to go to, and as a school we got 1st. One of the best experiences I had was the next invitational at Cornell. It was an amazing experience to see the campus and take the tests in actual classes. We also got to stay overnight which was a great experience to have because I had never gone on an overnight school trip. It was my favorite tournament but unfortunately the power went out on campus during the award ceremony and we had to leave. I found out later that I got 1st in Dynamic planet, 1st in fast facts, 1st in meteorology, and 2nd in reach for the stars. Even through all the mishaps, I really enjoyed scio as a club and because of what I learned and experienced. The next tournament was regionals, which was a breeze to first place as a school. As tradition, we had our regional dinner of Italian food which was great because I like food. States was the next tournament which is always difficult because the top 2 teams qualify from NY, out of 39 competing. All the teams are elite level and our main competition was Eagle Hill and our sister school, RC Murphy. As we competed, it seemed that we bombed many of our events including Bottle Rocket, Wright Stuff, Scrambler, Fast Facts and Optics. I was really nervous for the awards ceremony, because I thought we were not going to qualify for nationals. I was especially worried about Dynamic Planet because the test was exceptionally weird, and Reach for the Stars which was a 200 question test that was insanely difficult. They began announcing the events and we began getting second and third in so many events, that I began to get worried. I ended up getting 3rd in dynamic planet, 2nd in meteorology, 2nd in reach for the stars, and unfortunately, 12th in Fast Facts. After announcing the individual events, I knew that we had not gotten first place as a school. They announced the team scores and as they got closer to 3rd, I was getting more and more nervous. "3rd place RC Murphy!" I sighed in relief because I knew we at least got second and were able to go to nationals. We ended up getting second place, which was unfortunate because we did not get first, but still were able to go to nationals. Nationals was going to be difficult, so I studied a lot and took many practice tests with my partners. We had to drive for 14 hours to get to Ohio

2018-2019 Achievements
Rustin Invitational

LISO Invitational

2017-2018 Achievements
Nationals

States

Regionals

Cornell Invitational

Islip Invitational

Rustin Invitational

2016-2017 Achievements
Ohio National Tournament

New York State Competition

Eastern Long Island Regional Competition

Cornell Invitational

Blue Dragon Invitational does not remember

Rustin Invitational did not go but took the tests from it and failed epicly