Fairfax HS wins VA State Science Olympiad competition

[Anonymous]

Congratulations to Fairfax. You have a much better theatre program than TJ, as well!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:CarsonI'm not sure why, but TJ doesn't take SO seriously. They put kids on the national physics olympiad, bio olympiad and Chem olympiad. But this is the first I've heard of them even having a science olympiad team. For whatever reason, it's not something TJ kids care about.

Interestingly, Carson doesn't care either-- in fact they don't even field a team, which is strange.

Beware: my opinion only based on history at other middle schools:

All of the TJ applicants at Carson would love to put SciOly on their application. The problem is that only 15 students can compete on the state team (three teams from each school can compete at the invitational and regional tournaments)

Who gets on the teams is EXTREMELY controversial. I have experienced this first hand where PARENTS fight, back-stab, complain, make demands, etc, that their child should be on the team! She's way better than little Jimmy! It was very ugly.

DC #1 went through Carson to TJ. DC #2 attends Carson. Carson does not have a SO team. Which seems really strange, because generally, if it's STEM, Carson has 300 kids try out for it. (Or pretty much anything academic-- debate had at least a couple hundred kids also try out for 11 7th grade debate slots). And Carson parents are very involved in running the extracurricular academic teams. So, if there was any interest, they could likely find a parent to run it, so their kid could be on it. Because TJ admissions. But I have not heard of there being any interest. I have no idea why, but Carson does not have, and does not seem to want, a SO Team. MathCounts, TSA, TARC, Debate, FLL (through independent teams), MUN, etc-- all huge at Carson. Not SOL. (Also not OOTM-- Carson usually has a handful of few teams, but there is not a lot of interest).

Ditto with TJ and SO. TJ must have a SO team, if they are listed as competing. But, it is just not the big deal that a lot of the other academic teams are. Again, debate, MUN, Physics, Bio and Chemistry Olympiads, AMCs, HackTJ, various science fairs, It's Academic, etc. are all a huge deal. But not SO. Like at Carson, OOTM exists, but is not a big deal.

I'm guessing there is something about the SO competition itself that makes it less appealing to the Carson/ TJ crowd?

Total speculation. I assure you there is plenty of interest is SciOly at TJ. The school has 1700 students passionate about science. There is way more interest there than any of the other FCPS schools. TJ's teams are always competitive. It is much more difficult to get on the team at TJ than any other FCPS school.

The middle school teams, I find, are much more passionate about it. Maybe because the want TJ and a strong performance may help. I would assume they would at least consider SciOly for fun at TJ if they get in.

I suggest you attend a Sci Oly event. It is amazing. Usually takes up an entire Saturday. Volunteer to help out.

The HS participants are there, for the most part,because they like science, it's fun, and they love earning medals.

Do you have a kid at TJ? I'm guessing not if you think Science O,ympiad has the best and the brightest during it out to get on the team. I'm also guessing you have not had a kid go through Carson recently. DD competed in SO in ES, so we are familiar with the program. We specifically looked for it at Carson starting 2014, and it was not offered.

How funny! Some TJ folks can't help but make up excuses if TJ is not #1 at anything. Sad really...
How about you give Fairfax credit for their outstanding performance? A fair and square victory?[/quote

You know, you are forcing me do to something I hate doing -- defend TJ. But, what PP says is true. SO is one of many many options at TJ, some of which include real scientific discovery. The best and brightest at TJ are not in science olympiad.

(my gripe with TJ is the amount of stress it puts on kids -- both in the admissions process and at the school. What really pisses me off are the people that cite the college acceptances or SAT scores as proof of TJ's greatness. No that only proves the admissions accept the top performing students in the county. The advantage of TJ is not in the specific academics, but in the extra curricular options -- the chance to do real science in HS. Of course, I am getting ready to drop my daughter off for an event where she will be monitoring a stream for its health, and that is not at TJ).

+1!

I am a big fan of TJ too, but...

As you note, all students in FCPS have a ton of choices for their extracurriculars. Science Olympiad is just one of many, but is a popular one, even at TJ. It is fun, sciency, and been around for a long time. Many TJ students participated in ES and MS. Over 7500 schools in the US have SO teams.

SO requires teacher and parent involvement, and the quality and continuity of that involvement over a period of time is critical. Longfellow MS, Fairfax HS, and Langley HS are examples of some consistently great programs. I see some middle schools regularly "recreate the wheel" each year because students only spends 2 years there...lots of parent and faculty turnover.

I agree it is ridiculous to compare TJ destinations with college admissions from the other FCPS schools. You create a class by removing on average 25 or so of the top students from each base school and compare that class with the base schools? What would you expect?

One could argue that based on the stats from the base schools, TJ underperforms. Obviously the top 25% of TJ is amazing, but the rest of FCPS top 5% is equally amazing.

There are many base school FCPS kids who outperform the lower half at TJ. Many did not apply, many were rejected by a flawed, subjective selection process.

124 TJ students were rejected by UVA in 2016...