Science Olympiad Stories

[foreverphysics]

Any stories you may have regarding Science Olympiad, be it funny, humiliating, serious, or just experience. Because I expect that all of you, no matter who you are, have some kind of story to share and tell. So, to start off, I shall share two of mine.

Story #1
Last year in seventh grade, I did Battery Buggy. My partner was this tiny little sixth grader who was very accident prone, though through no fault of his own. So this particular day, it was two weeks before States (exactly two weeks, actually--it was a Saturday) and we were working on making a target for our buggy. So, for the target, we had to cut out some house insulation foam. To cut it, we needed either a scalpel or a utility knife. We picked the utility knife. But regular old utility knives weren't good enough for us; oh no. We had to use a tiny utility knife that was very much sharper than the usual knives because it had been less used. It was also in better condition. So my partner tried to cut the house insulation foam first while I made sure the numbers on our target were marked correctly. Suddenly, he yelled "Ah! Ow!". It turned out that he had cut open his middle finger on his right hand. So for five minutes we freaked out over him, applying first aid to his hand, washing his hand over with water, wrapping his finger in a band aid and then some duct tape, etc. Then I went to go cut the insulation foam. So I was working on cutting it, when the coach's son (he was there with us) yelled to me:
"Hey, <foreverphysics>, you cut your finger. It's bleeding."
"What? No it isn't."
"Yes it is!"
"...No it isn't. If I did, I would have felt it."
"<foreverphysics>, you're getting blood all over the target."
"I am not getting bloo--oh wait, maybe I am..." I had looked down on my hand and realized that I had indeed cut open my thumb. So there was another five minutes of first aid applying and duct tape wrapping, while the coach's son called me "emo" and a "robot". And at the end of that, the knife had not a single drop of blood on it. Not one...single...drop.
Later in the year, that same thumb would get cut open again by a scalpel the night before we left for Nationals while I was working with my ornithopter partner. That time, it wasn't my fault...mostly. And that same thumb would get split open again the next day, and then have accelerator sprayed on it. It was painful. Although, the accelerator spraying was mostly because I was distracted by one of my teammates trying to show me "Spiders on Drugs"...yeah.

Story #2
This was also last year, about a month before Nationals, when I was working with my ornithopter partner on--what else--our ornithopter. This time, my finger had gotten burned with a soldering iron (it was NOT my fault!), so my partner and I went down to the school kitchens to get some ice (yes, we were allowed in the school kitchens). Now, it just so happened that my partner's ex-girlfriend, who also happened to be my best friend, was also there at school at that time (despite the fact that school had been out for about two hours) and decided to go with us into the school kitchens to follow my partner around some. While I was getting some ice for my poor, burned finger, my friend kept asking:
"Well? Do you have an answer to the question?" while my partner looked around awkwardly and kept saying, "Umm...umm..." After a while, I got so confused that I yelled at my friend:
"What question?!"
"THE question!"
"What question?"
"I asked <insert partner's name here> if he would go out with me again..."
"...oh."
My partner still hadn't answered at this point, so my friend started pulling on my partner's ear, looking like she was about to yank it off. So I started begging my friend to not permanently harm my ornithopter partner because he was already distracted enough (aka he had the attention span of a goldfish) without having one of his ears yanked off. So she started pulling on his hair instead, and I begged her once again to not permanently damage my partner. So she began pulling on both his ear and his hair...which went against all of what I said. Finally, my partner was in enough pain that he finally answered.
"Ow, ow! Yes, yes, sure!" My friend then got all mushy on her new re-boyfriend.
"Aww! Thanks, <insert partner's name>!" Then she ran up to him and hugged him until he begged her to let go.
So I nursed a soldering iron-burned finger in the school kitchens while watching a make-up session between my best friend and my ornithopter partner. It was...painful, both mentally and physically, but it turned out all right. Other than the fact that my partner kept rubbing his ear for the rest of the day, it was simply marvelous.

[SciBomb97]

...
Although, the accelerator spraying was mostly because I was distracted by one of my teammates trying to show me "Spiders on Drugs"...yeah.
...

I remember showing you that video.
For all you sciency people who like a good laugh, check out that video on youtube, "spiders on drugs" (that is, if you haven't already).

[foreverphysics]

...
Although, the accelerator spraying was mostly because I was distracted by one of my teammates trying to show me "Spiders on Drugs"...yeah.
...

I remember showing you that video.
For all you sciency people who like a good laugh, check out that video on youtube, "spiders on drugs" (that is, if you haven't already).

The teammate I mentioned was you. And illusionofconfusion (somewhat).

[A Person]

...
Although, the accelerator spraying was mostly because I was distracted by one of my teammates trying to show me "Spiders on Drugs"...yeah.
...

I remember showing you that video.
For all you sciency people who like a good laugh, check out that video on youtube, "spiders on drugs" (that is, if you haven't already).

The teammate I mentioned was you. And illusionofconfusion (somewhat).

How many people on your team have a Scioly account?

[hexagonaria]

there was this one time at regionals when we got 8th place, and only the top 6 got to go to states. but then it turned out that 2 of the teams couldnt go because they were from the same school as other teams in the top 6. so we got to go to states even though we were 8th place. we were all pretty excited

[Kokonilly]

there was this one time at regionals when we got 8th place, and only the top 6 got to go to states. but then it turned out that 2 of the teams couldnt go because they were from the same school as other teams in the top 6. so we got to go to states even though we were 8th place. we were all pretty excited

There was this one time at state when we got 2nd place, but then Washington DC didn't go to nationals so we went instead. That was pretty great.

[foreverphysics]

I remember showing you that video.
For all you sciency people who like a good laugh, check out that video on youtube, "spiders on drugs" (that is, if you haven't already).

The teammate I mentioned was you. And illusionofconfusion (somewhat).

How many people on your team have a Scioly account?

Just look at our team's usergroup. That's all there is. I can't be bothered to count right now.

[EastStroudsburg13]

I feel like I have to tell my J.T. Lambert bus story here. Note to everyone who gets charter buses from their district: this is what the rest of us deal with to save money.

We were coming back from states in 2008. It was pretty successful, the most successful our team had ever been up to that point, I think. We got 6th as a team with 256 points total, and I think that point total is the lowest for states, even though the 2010 team got 5th at states. I personally had gotten four medals , including 3rd in Reach for the Stars (with 49ers) which I was really proud of.

A couple hours into the ride, though, our school bus pulled over to the side of the road. We found out that the bus broke down, and that we'd have to wait for a replacement bus. Furthermore, we were more than two hours away from the bus company, so we had to wait that long. Also, it was about 8 or 9, if I remember right, and the lights were off, so we couldn't really see much. It was helpful that we happened to have a flashlight from Reach, so I tore off the red paper and we used that. Other than that, it was sleep and wait until the bus came.

Around 10 or 10:30, the bus came, so everyone who was awake woke everyone else up. We had to carry all of our stuff, including the building events, over to the other bus. Keep in mind that this is at night, on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, so there aren't a lot of lights. It was also pretty cold, and all of us were tired. Finally, we managed to get everything and everyone on the bus, and we were off again. We ended up coming back to the school at around 12:30, and some people didn't get home until 2 or 3.

Every year that passes, I find this story a little funnier. The idea of us on the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere, hanging out waiting for our bus after states just seems funny to me. (49ers begs to differ)

[hexagonaria]

there was this one time at regionals when we got 8th place, and only the top 6 got to go to states. but then it turned out that 2 of the teams couldnt go because they were from the same school as other teams in the top 6. so we got to go to states even though we were 8th place. we were all pretty excited

There was this one time at state when we got 2nd place, but then Washington DC didn't go to nationals so we went instead. That was pretty great.

oh wow. i feel stupid now.

[wertyu793]

When I was in middle school, we went to state in KS. After getting 6th place overall, we headed home on the bus. Many farmers chose this night to burn their feilds and as we passed the glowing feilds in the distance, one kid said "Some men just want to watch the world burn. We were silent after that.