Pennsylvania 2017

[maxxxxx]

Wait so Harriton's underclassmen beat other teams' normal competitors? I know that it's early in the season but that's still really impressive.

A lot of other teams also send rookie teams to Conestoga, but Harriton's underclassmen still won by a huge margin and have never done that well before.

[Sully0413]

Harriton's underclassmen still won by a huge margin

Based on the wiki, didn't they score the lowest amount of points that invite has ever seen?

[EastStroudsburg13]

The wiki page is not comprehensive for all of history, as it is often difficult to track down invitational results from previous years. In addition, score depends wildly on number of teams and competitiveness of the invitational from year to year. This is not to say that Harriton's result isn't impressive; rather, I recommend exercising caution when comparing scores to those from past tournaments.

[Sully0413]

I recommend exercising caution when comparing scores to those from past tournaments.

Whoops . Sorry, I'm a little new at this.

[EastStroudsburg13]

I recommend exercising caution when comparing scores to those from past tournaments.

Whoops . Sorry, I'm a little new at this.

That's not a problem! All of us were new at some point. Just trying to offer some advice about looking at and comparing scores. It's still impressive to have the lowest score within the last 5 years of a tournament, but we can't say for sure what the results were before then.

[JamesBondBoy]

Well, I'm very late to the party. Still, I'm going to give my 10 cents.

Tredyffrin-Easttown is going to be impacted tremendously impacted, last year the team was practically 2/3 rds 8th graders. (Conestoga 9th graders don't do Division B).
Additionally, looking at Rustin Invitationals 2017, T/E placed far below all the other teams from States 2016 Division B top 10 that participated. Quite frankly, I wouldn't expect to even see them at States.

[EastStroudsburg13]

NEW STATE WEBSITE, LOOK HOW GLORIOUS IT IS

Looks like the webmaster is a North Pocono person; major props to my NEPA brethren! #NEPAmasterrace

[LowEntropy]

NEW STATE WEBSITE, LOOK HOW GLORIOUS IT IS

Looks like the webmaster is a North Pocono person; major props to my NEPA brethren! #NEPAmasterrace

Very happy to see a redesigned website, especially with the amount of information that's been added.

Does anyone know when/how they'll find state supervisors for Experiment and Mat Sci? It looks like the February 15th deadline for the test and event guidelines is coming up fast

[EastStroudsburg13]

5. Write the test (if applicable) for your event to be used at all regional tournaments.

• In addition, prepare event supervisor guidelines on how to run your event to assist regional event supervisors.
• The guidelines should include equipment lists, numbers of setups needed, and advice to affectively run the event.
• If your event has a lab, include guidelines to provide uniform lab experiences for all regional tournaments (as much as possible).
• We are looking for consistency in difficulty for the labs, not necessarily identical labs. Guidelines for test events should include additional background a regional event supervisor might need to grade your test.
• Both the test and the event supervisor guidelines should be submitted to the state director by February 15. The state director will forward these to the regional site directors by February 22.
• You are not required to run your event at regional tournaments, but are encouraged to do so.
• If you travel to any regional tournament other than the one your team participates in, you will be reimbursed for travel expenses.
• For regional tournaments that you plan to attend, please contact the regional director no later than February 1 to let him/her know that you will be there to run your event.

This is a really interesting section to me. In theory this seems like a really good idea; it'll ensure test quality and consistency throughout the state. My one concern is that if there aren't enough changes to tests, then people might share test information between regions, even though they will probably ask students specifically not to do so. Not that most Sciolyers would, but, you know....

On the other hand, every single region gets to experience a JCicc Astro test now, which is a beautiful thing.

[AlphaTauri]

This is a really interesting section to me. In theory this seems like a really good idea; it'll ensure test quality and consistency throughout the state. My one concern is that if there aren't enough changes to tests, then people might share test information between regions, even though they will probably ask students specifically not to do so. Not that most Sciolyers would, but, you know....

On the other hand, every single region gets to experience a JCicc Astro test now, which is a beautiful thing.

Personally, I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, good tests of consistent quality are always welcome, and it should definitely help to alleviate any last-minute supervisor-locating panic. However... I just don't see this working out unless all Regionals are magically on the same weekend, and I feel it also lessens opportunities for up-and-coming testwriters to gain writing experience.