Starting a Scioly Team as a Student (kind of)

[foxinni]

hello everyone! i am a (relatively) new competitor, and i'm not sure why i didn't choose to post earlier, but:
this year (2022-2023) i managed to round up some of the kids at my school as well as a science teacher, to start a scioly team. our school had never participated prior to this year (even though other middle schools in our district have!)

and while this is a little late, i was wondering if anyone here had tips for not only starting a team, but also keeping it running- next year, i'm actually leaving the school (going to high school) and as i'm kind of the glue holding the team together, i hoping that i could get a few tips from other students who might undertook similar endeavors.

slightly irrelevant, but we're going to regionals tomorrow lol- and majority of our team is gone due to a school issued, non refundable field trip. (yay.)
but honestly im still just happy i managed to bring our wittle baby inexperienced team this far

so yeah uh
havE a Nice dAY
and any tips from experienced scioly members would be GREATLy appreciated
and also tips for participating in solar system (as that's my main event that i have been violently studying and i doubt there'll be anything new but YOU NEVER KNow)

thank yoU!

[onshape]

I'm not super experienced with SciOly, but one thing I would say is focus on what you can do! Don't think about the competition and instead use it to help your team grow and remember not to stress to much about it, but enjoy it because this is your own initiative (:

[foxinni]

c: thank you for the response!
also the quotes in your signature are beautiful, 11/10

[0ddrenaline]

next year, i'm actually leaving the school (going to high school) and as i'm kind of the glue holding the team together

In case you're not aware, middle school teams are allowed to have up to five 9th graders who previously attended that middle school. So if you're a freshman next year then you should be able to return.

[foxinni]

Yep, I was aware, and i'm probably going to stay on next year. (unless I join my high school team)
Regardless, that is still only a year long solution and I'm hoping for a long term team.
Thanks for your response, though!

[pumptato-cat]

I'm not very experienced(this is my 4th year, but 3 years were spent in covid as a clueless middle-schooler struggling with Nearpod and Scilympiad...) but here goes, I guess!
You should probably have a teacher sponsor who somewhat cares about SciOly, because they'll be doing paperwork and stuff and keep the team going.
I'm not sure how your team does it, but some Div B teams have captains, or a student leader of sorts. If that's how your team is run, maybe have a voting/application process? I don't think most teams do this, though.
You could also try coaching your Div B team when you move to Div C--I know some people who've done this, and it works out well in most cases(you might even get volunteer hours, I think!).
I'm not sure if you'll be around long enough to do this(wait that sounds morbid hopefully you know what I mean though!!), but also try to promote SciOly with your school. If the administrators support SciOly, you'll have a greater chance of the team continuing and may even get funding!

Good luck. Hopefully that was somewhat helpful

[foxinni]

Thank you so much for the response ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
Thankfully, I think I've achieved the first criteria of having a motivated teacher- I doubt I'd have been able to get anywhere without her, lol.
I'll try to keep everything you said in mind when continuing my team- I'll hOPEfully be in this same district for the next ~4 years, so that gives plenty of time to nurture the team and coach them, I think.

again, thanks!
and also, your username + profile picture are so beautiful and perfect i love it :>

[pumptato-cat]

No problem! Good luck with your team, hope everything goes well for you!
Ahh thanks!!! Haven't changed either in like three years now... I love your pfp too it's so cute!!!

[foxinni]

aw thank u smmm!!!
im really happy- at our first regionals today, we medaled in two events (widi with me and another team member, and then solar which i soloed!!) :"DDD honestly im very happy
and yes thank u for everything :> ur support and ur pfp was exactly the motivation i think i needed hehe
if u dont mind me asking, what school + district + state scioly do u do?

[onshape]

Was your regional competition virtual? My team couldn't even get WIDI figured out, so if it was, congratulations! And I didn't know it was possible to do a build so quickly!! (:

I don't know if the question is directed at me, but Charlottesville High School / Charlottesville Regional / Virginia.