2018 National Tournament: Colorado State University

[PikaPikaChu]

That plus cost, of which everything seems to be 2-3 times as expensive as last year.

It is EXTREMELY expensive to get out there. Apparently, there is an "international convention/meeting" somewhere around Denver according to a local charter bus company. But then again, maybe they were referring to the SONT.

I had an alert set on my phone for prices of flights to Colorado on those dates, telling me every time it changed for months. At no time was it cheap.

I'd never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad I live in Kansas- even though it's going to be a 9 hour bus ride there.

[Killboe]

It is EXTREMELY expensive to get out there. Apparently, there is an "international convention/meeting" somewhere around Denver according to a local charter bus company. But then again, maybe they were referring to the SONT.

I had an alert set on my phone for prices of flights to Colorado on those dates, telling me every time it changed for months. At no time was it cheap.

I'd never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad I live in Kansas- even though it's going to be a 9 hour bus ride there.

FeelsBadMan, I'm in Florida and I'm flying.

[Vrund]

Hello Scioly!

I am a student at Fossil Ridge High School from Fort Collins Colorado, and I wanted to offer myself up to answer questions regarding CSU, its campus, and Fort Collins in general. As I have lived here my entire life, I am pretty well connected throughout the town and can give advice regarding food, lodging and things like that if you are trying to plan your trip and are finding the website difficult. I am aware that information regarding this tournament has been slow going, but I assure you that it will get better with time, and that Colorado State Science Olympiad will try to put on an incredible tournament that will be a positive experience for everyone attending.

The teams that have most often and most recently represented Colorado at nationals (My school, Fossil Ridge and my former middle school, Preston Middle School) are all from Fort Collins, Colorado and we are all very excited and confident that Colorado State University will be a great place to host this years tournament. Fort Collins is a beautiful city, and Colorado State is an awesome school (it is so good in fact, I am considering going there myself!).

At this point I am just rambling , but I wanted to assure you that this is going to be an awesome tournament, and if you have any questions, shoot me a personal message or just reply here and i'll do my best to answer (if i know).

Since you are from the area I was wondering if you had any suggestions of fun things we could do around there?

[CMS AC]

Any updates on Wright stuff/helicopter gym sizes?

[antoine_ego]

Anyone have any information regarding shipping builds? i.e. What post office should we ship to?

[CMS AC]

Shipping builds???????? Won't stuff break?

[JonB]

Shipping builds???????? Won't stuff break?

This is a fairly common practice for the National Competition. It can be difficult to fly with some materials so if you pack them well enough then shipment can be a good option. Also, I have not heard or seen anything updated about shipping.

[CMS AC]

But wouldn't stuff break if they are upside down? Or like cold temperatures and weird pressures of a plane be bad for wood though?

[TheChiScientist]

Not neccesarly. It would depend on how well a team packs their build. No such thing as over protecting.

[windu34]

Shipping builds???????? Won't stuff break?

This is a fairly common practice for the National Competition. It can be difficult to fly with some materials so if you pack them well enough then shipment can be a good option. Also, I have not heard or seen anything updated about shipping.

Shipping is okay, but I would definitely recommend taking any balsa-structures as carry-ons on the plane and checking-in other builds. As far as I am aware, there are no more lithium batteries in science olympiad as a whole so you should be okay for the most part. I can see how maybe mission/roller coaster might need to be shipped though.
Packing things well is pretty crucial, but not that hard imo. I will say that in the 2 years I went to nationals checking-in 6 build events total (Air Traj, EV, Robot; EV, Hover, Robot), I never opened anything I checked-in and discovered anything broken.