Indiana Science Olympiad

[ktrujillo52]

I hope everyone had fun yesterday at State. IU Bloomington did an amazing job in handling the competition.

[E Edgar]

Although this may sound a bit arrogant coming from a member of Bloomington South, I do think this was an incredibly exciting state competition!

I felt like all my events were run really well. Definitely, the tests for Astronomy, Fossils, and Technical Problem Solving were hard enough that they would've been challenging for everyone (although I'm still kicking myself for not putting the subphylum for blastoids in the binder). I also really liked that Physics Lab was not just run as a building event: the test was one of the hardest things I've ever seen and I doubt that anyone who just worked on turbines would've done very well.

I guess the Bloomington Schools won by quite a margin but I do think that State was much more competitive this year on all levels. I don't have a copy of the full scores yet so this may be a bit premature, but I do feel like Northridge and Munster both had very strong showings. Also, correct me if I'm wrong but I think that Valpo's score would've been enough to win state last year if you keep in mind that in 2009, there were only 22 events included in the final scores.

I couldn't have hoped for a better state competition in my last year of Science Olympiad.

Finally, I know I can speak for the entire team when I say that we are absolutely thrilled to be one of the two schools to represent Indiana in Illinois and at this point, our goal is definitely a top 10 finish.

[ktrujillo52]

The tests were definitely challenging. That cell bio test killed us. But the Anatomy test pigeon me off, I didn't have time to write the bonus essay and that was 15 points. It was a very long test. Congratulations on qualifying for Nationals though. Good Luck!

[Parulidae202]

This was the second year that my school offered a science Olympiad team. I decided to join as a senior because I saw that one of the events was ornithology, and I have been studying birds since I was six. We made it to the state meet and I placed in ornithology but was upset by the blatant cheating that was going on during the test. I agree that the competition was handled excellently overall and the awards ceremony was very impressive for a first time competitor, but I was quite disappointed that some teams were using two inch thick binders during the ornithology test. I know several schools complained, and I am quite curious to know what the arbiters decided in this situation. I had a great time at Bloomington regardless, but I still want to know.

[ktrujillo52]

Thats not cheating, check this out http://www.goshen.edu/bio/SciOlymp/rules.html

Scroll all the way down to Ornithology. Congratulations on your medal!

[E Edgar]

Yeah it was an amendment to the rules that Indiana made.

I believe it was posted on the Indiana page early on in the year but was kind of difficult to find. (Our team didn't see it until the day before regionals)
Anyway, I think it would've been much better just to go by the national rules but you can't really blame the schools with binders for cheating.

In any case, if you placed in ornithology without a binder, all the more credit goes to you because that obviously means you were really good.

[dickyjones]

Just so you know, it was also under the state science olympiad rule clarifications here. Congrats to all the teams there! It was great to be on the other side of SO this year.

[ktrujillo52]

Well I'm graduating this year. Although it's over for me I am looking forward to going to the competitions next year and helping out without actually competing, that should be fun. And state is supposed to be at Purdue Cal next year so maybe I can volunteer to help out.

[Parulidae202]

Thanks everyone for clearing that up and my bad about the accusations of cheating... My school didn't find that info so I just walked in with the field guide, one 8.5 by 11 page of notes, and ten years of experience haha.

[sciolykid101]

Although this may sound a bit arrogant coming from a member of Bloomington South, I do think this was an incredibly exciting state competition!

I felt like all my events were run really well. Definitely, the tests for Astronomy, Fossils, and Technical Problem Solving were hard enough that they would've been challenging for everyone (although I'm still kicking myself for not putting the subphylum for blastoids in the binder). I also really liked that Physics Lab was not just run as a building event: the test was one of the hardest things I've ever seen and I doubt that anyone who just worked on turbines would've done very well.

I guess the Bloomington Schools won by quite a margin but I do think that State was much more competitive this year on all levels. I don't have a copy of the full scores yet so this may be a bit premature, but I do feel like Northridge and Munster both had very strong showings. Also, correct me if I'm wrong but I think that Valpo's score would've been enough to win state last year if you keep in mind that in 2009, there were only 22 events included in the final scores.

I couldn't have hoped for a better state competition in my last year of Science Olympiad.

Finally, I know I can speak for the entire team when I say that we are absolutely thrilled to be one of the two schools to represent Indiana in Illinois and at this point, our goal is definitely a top 10 finish.

Did North win?
Edit: South won