Many of you familiar with me will know I have a great affinity for academic competition and was more than a little bit upset when the International Chemistry Olympiad was scheduled for Karachi Pakistan in 2016. As I feared the United States Department of State denied travel documents to anyone who wished to visit Pakistan (I totally agree with their decision) and the team from the United States would not be able to travel to the IChO. This also meant that the national study camp at the Air Force Academy would be cancelled. However I am reminded of a phrase popular from my youth, “Did you ever throw a party and no one came?” Most every country decided not to send teams and the government of Pakistan withdrew their support for the event this last January.
After what I imagine was some very fast planning, the event was relocated to Tbilisi, Georgia. I think (I might be wrong) that this was the country chosen to host the event about 2-3 years down the road. So game on! The United States will be holding a study camp and will be sending a team to Georgia. I assume the study camp will still be held at Air Force but one of my former students who is currently a cadet their tells me their might be a problem.
I am very excited! I truly love academic competitions and have seen how much participating in them has affected my students and myself. It has made me a much better teacher, made my students reach much higher, and provided many opportunities to many kids that they otherwise would have never had. I have had the privilege of having a student be on Team USA in Physics (although he has not chosen to be on the traveling team) and learned from him that just going to the study camp was the most amazing academic experience of his career.
So if you are looking for something to push your teaching to the next level try checking out Chemistry Olympiad.