Starting a Science Olympiad Team?

[AJ131]

I've recently moved from California to Illinois for high school, and my school has no science extracurriculars (yes. it really sucks). I was thinking of (maybe) starting a team at my school. I have no teacher sponsor who is willing to supervise the club and I'm not sure where the funding would come from. In one word, I am lost.

I do know that I really want to start a team at my school, because I've grown attached to scioly. I would appreciate some help regarding what steps I should take and how I should organize a team/gather people who are interested. [for context, I competed in Div. B for 2 years in the bay area, so I'm not that experienced with necessarily managing a science olympiad]

[TheChiScientist]

I've recently moved from California to Illinois for high school, and my school has no science extracurriculars (yes. it really sucks). I was thinking of (maybe) starting a team at my school. I have no teacher sponsor who is willing to supervise the club and I'm not sure where the funding would come from. In one word, I am lost.

I do know that I really want to start a team at my school, because I've grown attached to scioly. I would appreciate some help regarding what steps I should take and how I should organize a team/gather people who are interested. [for context, I competed in Div. B for 2 years in the bay area, so I'm not that experienced with necessarily managing a science olympiad]

First off. HI from a fellow Illinois SciOlyian.
What school is this that has no science olympiad team?
If it is a high school you can always try talking to the principal and see if they can find a willing science teacher or teacher to be drafted.
I would recommend getting at least 10 people interested in joining to prove popularity.
For finding people interested in this look towards the "Nerd" group because many of these people would go to science olympiad and be interested in it.
Got anymore questions feel free to ask me.

[knightmoves]

You need the school to support it - it's a school competition, so school admin people have to sign all the forms etc., which means you'll need to get at least one science teacher to be in charge.

IL as a state does scioly pretty well, and IL teams do well at nationals. Maybe that will help you talk it up to your principal or science teacher. Do any nearby high schools have a team? (go look at the results on avogadro for IL state / regionals). If other schools like yours do it, it might look more reasonable to your teachers.

Like TheChiScientist says, get a few people together who are prepared to commit to being on the team and putting the work in. Show them youtube videos to get them interested. You're not a team by yourself, but if you've got 8-10 people, you've got a team.

Get a couple of keen parents to volunteer to help coach. Start with your own parents - you've done scioly before, so they know more or less how it works. Do you have a parent who can commit to helping coach your team? Find a nerdy kid with a parent with a science or engineering job. Get them interested. If your teacher(s) see that other people are going to do a lot of the work, so you're not really asking for much of a commitment from them, they might be more likely to buy in. Coaches don't have to be teachers.

[TheChiScientist]

One of the best strategies is to get people interested and then have their parents harass the school board about this and they will give in.
Just need to spark interest.

[wethose]

At my school it was a simple as turning in a club application with a budget. Registering and getting everybody into their events is the painful part. As soon as school begins, register for your regional tournament, and keep an eye out for invitationals-- these are indispensable. Our team didn't compete in them the first year, but we got a ton of practice with them this year. It also got everybody motivated. Make sure everybody is actually studying and building..

[peridot4]

Hey everyone,

I'm also in the same boat. I'm trying to start a Division B team and was wondering what basic materials I need to purchase (crime busters kits, balsa wood, batteries, etc)? In general, how much is a middle school team budget (if they only have one team)?

Any help much appreciated!