I think it’s fair to say that Annette, Will, and I are just now recovering from our grand experience at the Washtenaw (county, that is) Elementary Science Olympiad on Saturday.
I didn’t get any good pictures frankly, but the Ann Arbor News did:
This is a water propelled bottle rocket contest; cute, huh? And here’s the article in yesterday’s Ann Arbor News— you have to go through the registration rig-a-ma-roll with the site if you want to see the piece, but it is probably worth it.
The article said there were 300 students competing, but I swear it felt more like 1,000. We got there (it was held over at an elementary school and middle school complex on the other side of Ann Arbor) at about 9 am or so and we were there until about 5:30, and it just seemed like one sea of parents and kids and teachers in chaos pretty much the whole time. Thus the long recovery period.
Will competed in two events– well, technically, three. He was on the science pentathlon team, which was this event where the kids had to answer a science trivia question and then complete some kind of minor athletic task– bouncing a ball, throwing something through a hoop, etc. Will’s team didn’t do so hot, in part because they were short a player.
He was a “second stringer” on the “Wright stuff” team, which is a competition where they build these ridiculously precise airplanes from balsa and tissue and then fly them with rubber band props. Will and his partner’s airplane was the “B team,” so they didn’t get to compete. But the “A team” for his grade level won, so I think of that as Will winning too. Hey, the bench warmers are still on the team, right?
And then he was also on the science jeopardy team, which was a team-oriented jeopardy contest. They lost their first round quite badly, but they rallied and actually ended up in fourth place, which was an unexpected triumph.
Actually, Estabrook did quite well in this thing overall, I’d say in the top third of schools that competed. I don’t often have “Ypsi pride,” but I have to say I was very proud that our scruffy little band of kids competed well with the ones from the “good schools” in Ann Arbor. Will’s looking forward to it for next year, and I might even volunteer to coach something. We’ll see….
I believe the article should have said something like 1300 — this is the largest elementary Science Olympiad in the country, and since Macomb County has 1200 or so…. Congratulations to your son, and to Estabrook. This is the second year my daughter has competed, for Ann Arbor Open, and my first year coaching. She did Wright Stuff, too. You should definitely go for it! It is not much more exhausting coaching, in my experience.