Students Paid Price For Adults’ Mistake
They get to keep the trophy.
It’s nearly 3 feet tall, shiny and impressive. But every time they see the trophy, Ferris High School students will remember one thing. Adults they trusted to be competent screwed up - big time - and the students paid the emotional price.
Last Saturday, 15 Ferris students competed in the Science Olympiad state competition in Everett. They returned home champions. Monday, the phone rang. Olympiad officials had some sobering news. Sorry, we made a mistake. Toledo High School in Lewis County won, really. We counted the points wrong. Toledo will now go to the national tournament in Atlanta, not Ferris.
Disappointment reigned at Ferris this week. But there are several things to be learned from this fiasco. Not much consolation, perhaps, but good lessons just the same.
Olympiad organizers blamed the mistake on volunteers. “When you’re dealing with volunteers, unfortunately you have to take what you can get,” said state program co-director Bob Campbell, himself a volunteer.
But events that rely primarily on volunteers aren’t always a mass of confusion. It takes good leaders to organize, double-check every detail, create contingency plans and relay the message that the adults are donating their time for an excellent cause. Do it well. Do it professionally.
And if volunteers are the problem, why not hire some people to tally the scores? School officials and parents often complain that sports seem more important than academic achievement. Schools find the money to send teams to state athletic tournaments, where professional referees officiate. Surely, there is money somewhere to make certain a statewide science contest is run right. This would also send a strong message that adults care about their children’s minds as much as they care about their sports abilities.
And finally, Ferris shouldn’t let the issue drop. They should demand some changes be made in the Science Olympiad to prevent a similar mistake in the future. Maybe Toledo students can participate in the protest, too. After all, the screw-up put a damper on their win.
This is how things change for the better. People mess up. Others pay the price. But those who paid get active to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
If they succeed in changing a flawed system, the Ferris students will remember that victory the rest of their lives, long after the trophy’s shiny surface has grown dull.
, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Rebecca Nappi/For the editorial board