Minnesota 2013

[Luo]

By my count, there has been a sharp decrease in the number of teams that are actually competing (I think it's around 40-something, according to regional scoresheets.) This decline is somewhat alarming, considering that just 2 years ago, we were able to send two teams to Nationals. But while we're declining, states like Wisconsin and Washington are expanding past us in terms of number of teams and what not.

According to my count, 68 Division C teams competed in Minnesota this year (22 at Bethel + 19 at Inver Hills + 18 at Rochester + 9 at Moorhead), which is up by 2 teams from the 66 we had last year. (Did you perhaps forget to count the JV teams?)

Anyway, one way that I think Minnesota should seek to expand is by cold-calling (or cold-emailing, as it may be) science teachers at large schools that currently do not participate in Science Olympiad, asking them whether they'd be interested in starting a team at their school. A lot of strong metro-area schools don't participate in Science Olympiad, so these would be prime candidates for expansion. It's possible that the reason is simply that science teachers at these schools have not yet heard of the awesomeness that is Science Olympiad.

[thisusernameistaken]

Anyway, one way that I think Minnesota should seek to expand is by cold-calling (or cold-emailing, as it may be) science teachers at large schools that currently do not participate in Science Olympiad, asking them whether they'd be interested in starting a team at their school. A lot of strong metro-area schools don't participate in Science Olympiad, so these would be prime candidates for expansion. It's possible that the reason is simply that science teachers at these schools have not yet heard of the awesomeness that is Science Olympiad.

You should email teachers at Irondale. Their not really taking us 13 year olds very seriously.

[DazzlingMer]

I mean, it is kinda frustrating with every single year I've participated in being dominated by MV, but I guess that now that I have a personal challenge to defeat them in an event of mine after forestry this year, I'm pumped to be competing against such a high-stakes team.

Right now, I think the only thing I am thinking about is getting the team more realistically-based this coming year. My sister, our friend and I are the only three returnees this year, so everyone else was fresh out of the gate. And as happened to me my first year, I kinda underestimated things and didn't get into it. It's not interesting those first few times when you don't win any medals or you think you team sucks because you don't know the competition well. Then it makes you think what kind of crazy genius' the people must be who are winning.

[haverstall]

By my count, there has been a sharp decrease in the number of teams that are actually competing (I think it's around 40-something, according to regional scoresheets.) This decline is somewhat alarming, considering that just 2 years ago, we were able to send two teams to Nationals. But while we're declining, states like Wisconsin and Washington are expanding past us in terms of number of teams and what not.

According to my count, 68 Division C teams competed in Minnesota this year (22 at Bethel + 19 at Inver Hills + 18 at Rochester + 9 at Moorhead), which is up by 2 teams from the 66 we had last year. (Did you perhaps forget to count the JV teams?)

Anyway, one way that I think Minnesota should seek to expand is by cold-calling (or cold-emailing, as it may be) science teachers at large schools that currently do not participate in Science Olympiad, asking them whether they'd be interested in starting a team at their school. A lot of strong metro-area schools don't participate in Science Olympiad, so these would be prime candidates for expansion. It's possible that the reason is simply that science teachers at these schools have not yet heard of the awesomeness that is Science Olympiad.

I specifically left out the JV teams more because 5 teams at MV would definitely cover say, Harbor City or Providence Academy not showing up at Regionals. I guess I"m more commentating on the lack of participation of the part of schools, rather than lack of participation with students at already established schools. So technically yes, MNSO has expanded, but not in a way that increases participation from other schools.

[Kokonilly]

Anyway, one way that I think Minnesota should seek to expand is by cold-calling (or cold-emailing, as it may be) science teachers at large schools that currently do not participate in Science Olympiad, asking them whether they'd be interested in starting a team at their school. A lot of strong metro-area schools don't participate in Science Olympiad, so these would be prime candidates for expansion. It's possible that the reason is simply that science teachers at these schools have not yet heard of the awesomeness that is Science Olympiad.

Out of curiosity, which schools are you talking about? The big public schools that generally do well at academic activities - Eden Prairie, Wayzata, Central, Minnetonka, Mounds View, etc. - are all represented in Science Olympiad.

EDIT: Oh, Edina doesn't have a team? That's mildly surprising.

You should email teachers at Irondale. Their not really taking us 13 year olds very seriously.

You may want to start by using their/they're/there properly.

And as happened to me my first year, I kinda underestimated things and didn't get into it. It's not interesting those first few times when you don't win any medals or you think you team sucks because you don't know the competition well. Then it makes you think what kind of crazy genius' the people must be who are winning.

Yeah, that was definitely my problem freshman year. For some reason I had no idea what was even going on until regions. It happens. Your team will improve with experience.

[haverstall]

Anyway, one way that I think Minnesota should seek to expand is by cold-calling (or cold-emailing, as it may be) science teachers at large schools that currently do not participate in Science Olympiad, asking them whether they'd be interested in starting a team at their school. A lot of strong metro-area schools don't participate in Science Olympiad, so these would be prime candidates for expansion. It's possible that the reason is simply that science teachers at these schools have not yet heard of the awesomeness that is Science Olympiad.

Out of curiosity, which schools are you talking about? The big public schools that generally do well at academic activities - Eden Prairie, Wayzata, Central, Minnetonka, Mounds View, etc. - are all represented in Science Olympiad.

I guess that is the problem. We only focus on those huge suburb schools. Yet, if you look at the SEC (our high school sports conference), there are several schools there, like White Bear, Forest Lake, Park, Stillwater, Roseville, that don't have teams. In addition, there's a ton of high schools in the inner city that don't have these types of support systems to create Science Olympiad teams. I know that it may be very difficult to introduce any sort of program in districts where funding is already tight, but there are numerous other big suburb schools that don't have teams, and those might be the ones that an outreach program could target.

And as happened to me my first year, I kinda underestimated things and didn't get into it. It's not interesting those first few times when you don't win any medals or you think you team sucks because you don't know the competition well. Then it makes you think what kind of crazy genius' the people must be who are winning.

Yeah, that was definitely my problem freshman year. For some reason I had no idea what was even going on until regions. It happens. Your team will improve with experience.

Oh lolz freshman year. Freshman year was such a joke for me. Did 2 events total the entire year. Junkyard, and Picture This. Although admittedly, we came in 5th in junkyard at Boyceville, and had I not measured a distance incorrectly, we would have gotten 1st.

[Luo]

Anyway, one way that I think Minnesota should seek to expand is by cold-calling (or cold-emailing, as it may be) science teachers at large schools that currently do not participate in Science Olympiad, asking them whether they'd be interested in starting a team at their school. A lot of strong metro-area schools don't participate in Science Olympiad, so these would be prime candidates for expansion. It's possible that the reason is simply that science teachers at these schools have not yet heard of the awesomeness that is Science Olympiad.

Out of curiosity, which schools are you talking about? The big public schools that generally do well at academic activities - Eden Prairie, Wayzata, Central, Minnetonka, Mounds View, etc. - are all represented in Science Olympiad.

EDIT: Oh, Edina doesn't have a team? That's mildly surprising.

A non-comprehensive list: Edina, Burnsville, Stillwater, Roseville, Chaska, Breck, Hopkins, Chanhassen, Armstrong, Maple Grove, Anoka, St. Cloud Tech, St. Cloud Apollo. Some, not all, of these schools have histories of performing well in academic competitions, and even the ones that don't have such histories are still definitely large enough to support a healthy Science Olympiad program.

I specifically left out the JV teams more because 5 teams at MV would definitely cover say, Harbor City or Providence Academy not showing up at Regionals. I guess I"m more commentating on the lack of participation of the part of schools, rather than lack of participation with students at already established schools. So technically yes, MNSO has expanded, but not in a way that increases participation from other schools.

Though I agree that Minnesota could potentially do better in recruiting new schools, I don't think that the number of participating schools is actually declining. By my count, 45 schools participated this year, compared to 44 last year (these numbers might be off by 1 or 2 if I miscounted). This relatively small growth compared to other states is disappointing, but I don't think it's necessarily as dire as it may seem.

[Kokonilly]

Oh lolz freshman year. Freshman year was such a joke for me. Did 2 events total the entire year. Junkyard, and Picture This. Although admittedly, we came in 5th in junkyard at Boyceville, and had I not measured a distance incorrectly, we would have gotten 1st.

Haha, I did whatever Jazzy and Paradox asked me to do, which got me a third in Keep the Heat (the credit for which goes to Jazzy's build - I had no idea what I was doing during the test, and my partner was even less helpful) at regions and an alternate spot at state/nats (read: opportunity to annoy everyone for a few days).

A non-comprehensive list: Edina, Burnsville, Stillwater, Roseville, Chaska, Breck, Hopkins, Chanhassen, Armstrong, Maple Grove, Anoka, St. Cloud Tech, St. Cloud Apollo. Some, not all, of these schools have histories of performing well in academic competitions, and even the ones that don't have such histories are still definitely large enough to support a healthy Science Olympiad program.

Oh, hmm, I totally forgot about a lot of those schools. Guess I'm out of touch. Fair enough.

[DazzlingMer]

And as happened to me my first year, I kinda underestimated things and didn't get into it. It's not interesting those first few times when you don't win any medals or you think you team sucks because you don't know the competition well. Then it makes you think what kind of crazy genius' the people must be who are winning.

Yeah, that was definitely my problem freshman year. For some reason I had no idea what was even going on until regions. It happens. Your team will improve with experience. [/quote]

I'm not worried that they won't. Considering the freshness of our team this year, it could take a year or two for our gear to kick back in.

[haverstall]

Though I agree that Minnesota could potentially do better in recruiting new schools, I don't think that the number of participating schools is actually declining. By my count, 45 schools participated this year, compared to 44 last year (these numbers might be off by 1 or 2 if I miscounted). This relatively small growth compared to other states is disappointing, but I don't think it's necessarily as dire as it may seem.

Lol. I guess I'm terrible at counting.

And yes it's disappointing. And after looking at the numbers, I guess it isn't as dire as I had made it. But it would be nice to get that 2nd team to nats. Any clue what our rank is in terms of number of teams, Luo? I know we're out of the conversation of getting a second team this year, but I'm curious what the differential is.