General

Science Olympiad 2011

Science Olympiad. The high school competition that battles the brightest minds of each school in 15-23 events.
The way that the medals/awards are called out are 6th, 5th, and 4th place, then a pause, then 3rd, 2nd, and 1st place. Our school usually gives up all hope after the first 3 (4, 5, 6) are called for obvious reasons. This year, they called our school for 3rd place twice, and 1st place once. The auditorium was is chaos after we heard those. It was amazing for me, because I was in three events. I didn\'t get a medal in the first two, and in the third, I didn\'t hear our school for the first 3. I really wanted a medal. Then: \"Third place, [our school]\". I sat there, dumbfounded, for half a minute, not believing that they actually called us.
The fun didn\'t end there. When they announced the overall placement (i.e., the 6 teams that would go to the state level), I was sure our school didn\'t make it. 6th place: not our school. Yup, we definitely didn\'t place. 5th place: our school. Three rows of students, teachers, and parents sat there silently for the longest time ever. What. Just. Happened. There\'s no way we did that. My hearing is going to suck for the next couple days because of the screaming that ensued.
I\'m just so ecstatic. Here in the Southern California region, it is statistically impossible for any school other than Tory, University, Irvine, Woodbridge, Northbridge, and Trabuco to pass on to the next level, the state level. My school? We usually get around 2 or 3 medals (top 6 out of 20) each year. This year? We placed in half of the events, one of them beating Troy (often the national finalist). On top of that, we placed 5th overall. That\'s right, we just accomplished what is totally impossible in any way, shape, or form. And now we\'re going to compete in the next round.
I just wanted to share, just because I\'m SO EXCITED AND HAPPY RIGHT NOW.

So how was your Science Olympiad, if you had it?