Smart Kids!

Band 

mem-

bers, 

ath-

letes, 

the-

atre 

ma-

jors,

artist, scientist.  High school is filled with all kinds of kids.  

I spent yesterday with a bunch of smarties.  The Science Olympiad team my son is on went to their regional competition.  

We boarded a school bus at 4:30 am and headed to Purdue University.  In those early, dark hours of the morning the bus was fairly quiet.  Click, click, click.  On went the mini-mag lights as reference books were cracked open.  Months of studying have not been enough.  These kids go all out; every minute left is a valued working moment.  Two hours later the bus was stone silent.  I woke up and found everyone had fallen

 asleep.  "Good," I thought.  They need to be fresh for the tests and tasks ahead.  

  

In the 'home room', last tests runs are completed.  Checks on building event machines.  How did they fair their travels on the school bus?  

 Science Olympiad teams are made up of 15 members max.  The team I was with only had 14 members.  The 23 events of the day are study and building/task oriented.  Each event is completed by two or three teammates.  Study events are knowledge events.  Tests.  How much do they know about a certain area and how well can they answer questions or do calculations.   Building/task oriented events have strict specifications that the teams must follow.  Certain supplies or parameters are used to complete a specific task.  Sometimes the conditions the teams get to demonstrate their expertise in is less than desirable.  Trajectory was run out doors.  The temps were near 30 and dropping.  Snow was falling and blowing.  Part of the learning experience is to see how your designs preform under different conditions.  

At the end of the day, these kids were rewarded for their hard work.  Every neck on this team had multiple medals clinking as they walked.  Next month they will go on to the state competition.  Last year they went all the way to nationals and won 10th place.  They did lose some key seniors, but my opinion is that they are still as strong as before.  The top two teams from each state head to nationals.  I hope to accompany these smarties to Augusta, GA in May!  

Photos:  The brownies on the top are made with sauerkraut.  They were a joke, still a few souls were brave enough to try them.  A few of the text books just lying around and being looked at in between events.  Checking machinery, running the trajectory and photo of the winners!