Embedded Files
Surprising my Science Olympiad Team
Surprising my Science Olympiad Team
As many are probably already aware of, I have been coaching our school's Science Olympiad team for a number of years. Each year, we have had enough student interest to have two teams, so my fellow coaches and I mentor 30 students on 23 different events which span the scientific disciplines.
We practice twice a week and compete against schools from all over Kansas. Our competition season begins in January, so October through December is when we really hit the books and builds to get prepared. It's been weird to be away from the team during this time, but the other coaches, Hannah and Rob, have pulling extra weight. Another teacher and supporter of the team, Val, has also stepped in to help in my absence.
A couple of weeks ago, I learned that my Science Olympiad team would be visiting the Mabee Observatory at Bethel College for an evening of stargazing. My husband Eric (who works at Bethel College) thought it would be fun surprise the students with a quick video call from me. I had been looking forward to seeing them and talking to them for days, so I was sure to have one of our ship's IT specialists get me signed into the larger-bandwidth Wi-Fi used specifically for outreach.
Bethel College's Mabee Observatory
Eric had my live video call up on a screen for the students to see when the walked in, and he had his phone in a position that allowed me to see the students' reaction to the big surprise.
The door opened, and I began to hear students excitedly shouting, "wait... is that Ms. Preheim? Is that really her? Is this for real?"
I teared up as I watched each of their reactions to realizing that not only were they on a cool field trip, but that they got to talk to their coach who was thousands of miles away in the Southern Ocean. I couldn't talk for very long, but I enjoyed getting to show them the lab spaces I was working in and answering a few questions.
One student asked if I had found the top secret Krabby Patty recipe from Plankton. I told them that two of our researchers had just collected a bunch of copepods in a net tow, so we were probably close to finding it.
Biiiiiiig thanks to my husband Eric, my SciOly coaching team (Hannah, Rob and Val), and Bethel College student observatory employee Meriem for arranging this special opportunity!
Plankton from Spongebob Squarepants
Plankton's character is based off of a real-life copepod, of which there are many in the Southern Ocean
Page updated
Report abuse