More Photos from the event

Ian & Carter with 4th place medals

Lunch at a mall in Albany, NY

Lunch at the mall

Lunchtime

Waiting to impound items for the technical events

A cool art exhibit at the college

John Lennon in spools of thread

Our team at their assigned tables

Carter & Ian ready for Shock Value

Working with a mentor

Pre-event quizzes

Ms. Kobis helping Ryan

High School mentors checking calendar of events

Internet research

Our mentors had to do their homework too

Our team leaders

Feeling good leaving Shock Value event

Crime Busters team

Our trebuchet in mid-launch

Our Towers team, with tower

Weighing tower at check-in

Tower still holding!

Towers team in action

A beautiful day

Playing "Ninja"

Playing games with another team

Awaiting the final ceremonies

Team discussion

Sarah & Melissa take 3rd place

Ian & Carter take 4th in Shock Value

Thanks to our mentors

A big thank you to our Science Olympiad mentors from Wiliamsville High School.  You guys were the best!

Ms. Kobis and Ms. Mruk, our team leaders.  A great big thank you for organizing the Transit Middle team.  For those that don't know, they both teach at Williamsville East High, so they aren't even affiliated with TM.  Wow!

Science Olympiad Medal

Our medal winners

Here are some photos of our medal winners.  Given the level of competition at the State tournament, I think a top 15 finish in any event is remarkable.

Having fun once the work was over

For me, one of the greatest moments of the tournament occurred after all the events were over.  All of our kids were playing "ninja" together, and were even joined by another team for the fun.  After all the hard work, it was great to see them all having fun together - boys, girls, middle school kids & high school kids

Back Home

Well, we're back home now, and most of you probably know that we were lucky enough to take home two sets of medals today:

• Microbe Mission 3rd place to Sarah & Melissa
• Shock Value 4th place to Carter & Ian

Congratulations to all of the competitors on the Transit Middle team.  You did a terrific job representing the school against some very tough competition from all across New York State.  

Also, a great big thank you to our high school mentors who helped prepare our team for the competition.  Our team was lucky to have such hardworking and conscientious support.  It was so much fun working with you all.  

Finally, a very large thank you on behalf of all of the students and parents goes out to Ms. Kobis and Ms. Mruk.  Your efforts have really meant a lot to each and every one of the kids on this team.  They were all so proud and energized to work together and be a part of this team.  Thank you so very much!

Photos and more summaries tomorrow.  Now, to my own bed.  Well, not quite my bed, because my daughter is having a sleepover.  

Half way through

Our events started at 8am.

• Day started off right when Carter & Ian thought that Shock Value was easy.  
• In Bottle Rocket, Luke's rocket went really hight, but fell back to earth pretty hard.  
• In general, the kids feel pretty good about the various academic events.  Lots of great energy from the team members.  It's nice to see them having so much fun! 

Technical events coming up this afternoon include Storm the Castle, Towers, Mag Lev, helicopter & Sumo Bots.  Should be fun to watch.  We're on our way.  

Campus is small, with beautiful views of the Catskill Mountains.  

Time for breakfast

Ok, we're on our way to breakfast.  Wish us luck in the competitions!

Heading to the hotel

Here's the team leaving the restaurant, and heading to the hotel.  I need to say that this is the nicest group of  kids ever!  Both the high school and middle school kids are the best.  Need to get to bed now.  Breakfast is at 5:30am, off to the competition at 6:30am to start a full day of competition.

Dinner Time

Ate dinner at a place called 99s, or something like that.  Food was ok, and service was pretty quick for a group of 29.  Andrew ate all of his broccoli, and almost nothing else.  No one had room for dessert.

Here are some of the team waiting to impound items for the technical events.  When we first arrived, we were told we could not all stay on campus this evening, because they were trying to keep the crowds down.  They finally changed their mind, and allowed us in.  We were practically alone in a cafeteria that was closed, and very few other teams there.   After a while, they kicked us out of the cafeteria because they needed to setup for the Experimental Design group.

Apologies!

Ok, well it turns out that there is no wi-fi access at SUNY Ulster.  It's a very small campus, and there's nothing else around.  So, I can add something tomorrow when we stop for dinner.   Otherwise, might not get much chance.  Sorry, I guess I am not going to win any sort of blogging Pulitzer for this trip.  Bummer.

Lunch Time!

We're at the Crossgates mall in Albany, NY having lunch.  Pizza, Chinese, Subway and Wendy's were chosen.  We'll be getting back on the bus at 12:30.  I think we're a little ahead of schedule at this point.

Ready to pull out

Ms. Kobis and the team ready to pull out early this morning from the TM parking lot.