New York 2011

[smartkid222]

Buffalo? @#%& Buffalo? What happened to Binghamton?

*grumble grumble*

This is why this site needs a like button.

I was just about to like that comment.

[paleonaps]

Buffalo? @#%& Buffalo? What happened to Binghamton?

*grumble grumble*

I approve of this comment.

[andrewwski]

So instead of making States in an area close to most teams, they put it in Canisius College. In Buffalo.
/hello 8 hr drive

Canisius will do a great job with states. They hosted the local regionals for the first time this year, and did an awesome job. I was an event supervisor (originally an assistant, got added at the last minute when one of the supervisors couldn't make it), and the amount of effort that Canisius put in was amazing.

Plus, Buffalo's a nice place...although I am biased. To me, states always equaled a roadtrip. West Point was 7+ hours, and although I never went, everyone in the area that did said the trip was half the fun. Heck, I've done 8 hour bus trips before...they can be fun. Somewhat long...but they could be worse.

For most teams, it probably won't be that much more expensive...you're going to need a bus regardless. If you travel through the night, you can avoid extra hotel nights (that's how my team went to states last year), or prolong the trip and stay extra nights.

I'll start throwing out ideas of how to enjoy the limited time in Buffalo. One, make sure you get chicken wings sometime while you're here (but not from the Anchor Bar...they may have invented the wing, but that doesn't mean they make them very good!)

[paleonaps]

Thanks, andrewwski. I'm sure Buffalo will be fun, but I don't really like long bus rides.

[Flavorflav]

No offense - I actually think Buffalo's a pretty nice town. It's just a really big pain. I'm probably going to have to call in whatever chips I have and do some - *shiver* - fundraising (The horror!) to get the coach bus and the extra night in the hotel.

[personasaurus rex]

No offense - I actually think Buffalo's a pretty nice town. It's just a really big pain. I'm probably going to have to call in whatever chips I have and do some - *shiver* - fundraising (The horror!) to get the coach bus and the extra night in the hotel.

Oh come on fundraising is not that horrible! I love our fall car washes and attacking the unfortunate cars that stop at the light for spare change. You'd be surprised at how much a bunch of shameless high schoolers can raise.
And our school never gives us any money so that's how we survive the season anyways. It's a fun time and good team bonding. And you get money.

[quizbowl]

At this point, I'm just waiting for the schedule to come out for states. I really hope that Harold Miller can finally put the ID events in non-conflicting slots and/or make the conflicts similar for all teams.
/me pleads to the New York Science Olympiad gods

[Phenylethylamine]

No offense - I actually think Buffalo's a pretty nice town. It's just a really big pain. I'm probably going to have to call in whatever chips I have and do some - *shiver* - fundraising (The horror!) to get the coach bus and the extra night in the hotel.

Oh come on fundraising is not that horrible! I love our fall car washes and attacking the unfortunate cars that stop at the light for spare change. You'd be surprised at how much a bunch of shameless high schoolers can raise.
And our school never gives us any money so that's how we survive the season anyways. It's a fun time and good team bonding. And you get money.

The problem with fundraising is that my team has never done it before. Sure, in junior high we did a magazine sales fundraiser, but the high school team is (or at least pretends to be) so apathetic that floating the idea of a fundraiser gets a bunch of "...meh"s in response. We often have some tension about what the district will fund, but never enough to actually get people off their butts to fundraise.

Maybe this year. I'd love to go to the Athens invitational, but that would require a truly Herculean fundraising effort on top of the money for a possible extra night at States.

[paleonaps]

Car smash. I have mentioned it before. It's all we need.

[andrewwski]

No offense - I actually think Buffalo's a pretty nice town. It's just a really big pain. I'm probably going to have to call in whatever chips I have and do some - *shiver* - fundraising (The horror!) to get the coach bus and the extra night in the hotel.

Oh come on fundraising is not that horrible! I love our fall car washes and attacking the unfortunate cars that stop at the light for spare change. You'd be surprised at how much a bunch of shameless high schoolers can raise.
And our school never gives us any money so that's how we survive the season anyways. It's a fun time and good team bonding. And you get money.

Agreed. When I did SO in high school we had zero funding from our district. Zero, zilch, nada. It's still that way now, and the team made states this year. They were able to get individual costs down to $30/person by fundraising. That included bus, hotel, etc.

No offense - I actually think Buffalo's a pretty nice town. It's just a really big pain. I'm probably going to have to call in whatever chips I have and do some - *shiver* - fundraising (The horror!) to get the coach bus and the extra night in the hotel.

Oh come on fundraising is not that horrible! I love our fall car washes and attacking the unfortunate cars that stop at the light for spare change. You'd be surprised at how much a bunch of shameless high schoolers can raise.
And our school never gives us any money so that's how we survive the season anyways. It's a fun time and good team bonding. And you get money.

The problem with fundraising is that my team has never done it before. Sure, in junior high we did a magazine sales fundraiser, but the high school team is (or at least pretends to be) so apathetic that floating the idea of a fundraiser gets a bunch of "...meh"s in response. We often have some tension about what the district will fund, but never enough to actually get people off their butts to fundraise.

Maybe this year. I'd love to go to the Athens invitational, but that would require a truly Herculean fundraising effort on top of the money for a possible extra night at States.

If you want to achieve something, you've got to work hard at it. If you want to fund a trip, you've got to fundraise. It's not that difficult, and it's not too late to start.

You can start by selling things - even little items can add up. You'd be amazed how many hundreds of dollars can be made by selling suckers for a few weeks. Also pursue larger sources - write to local companies and ask for sponsorship or donations.

The club that I'm president of at college managed to fundraise $7855 last year in monetary donations. It was all just by finding potential sources of funding and pursuing them. On top of that, we got $3560 in materials donated.

Granted, that would be more money than any SO team should ever need - but my point is that the money is there. Just be proactive in looking for it.