Science Olympiad 2016-2017

 The duo had a fun opportunity this year to be on their school's Science Olympiad team. They practiced twice per week, studied, and Gracie had a couple of hands on, building-type things to work on and complete at home. At the end of January, the team was prepared to compete in a county-wide gathering of schools.

Our school was the smallest school on the roster, and it was the coach's first year to coach an SO team. Because of those factors and it being the duo's first year as well, we had some realistic expectations about the outcome. Grace's activities involved estimating the weight of various objects, building a suspension bridge and building a pasta transporter (a vehicle on wheels that can carry cargo - made entirely of pasta). There were a lot of variables with her categories, but she walked away with a 5th place ribbon for the pasta transporter.  Lauren's events were science decades (1950's), spelling and       , earning her a silver medal and two bronze medals. Their school finished 5th overall. They were so excited!

Also, fun fact about Skip: he gets super excited, too. I have had several people tell me that they were really enjoying Skip and his excitement during the awards ceremony. Maybe it was the first pump and the "YEAH!" he exclaimed with each win?

Naturally, William George had to join in the celebration with one of his medals. Although he really was awesome about spending an entire day in a high school gym - on a Saturday!

At the end of February, the team met up again for the state event. Competition was much more fierce this time, but the duo performed their best against some of the toughest schools (public and private) in the state.  

In the end, they personally did not medal this time, but they did their best and had a great day with friends.  

And George bravely spent another Saturday in a high school gym. 

Finally, they had an event at school in March where the team demonstrated the egg drop event (an egg is dropped from about 8-9 feet). The SO team broke up into groups of two and built a casing for the egg to prevent breakage, with mixed results (again, there are a lot of variables). Grace and her partner nailed it, while Lauren and her partner had one tiny crack. Gracie also demo'd her pasta transporter for the school. Because it was the third time down a steep incline, the wheels were a little shaky, but it took proudly took a final run. 

As the above smiles indicate, Grace and Lauren enjoyed their SO experience... science is fun!