4/7/25 - Communique 6

It’s been such a wonderful experience working with all of you this year. Below are a few additional items to wrap up this tournament:

1. To help us improve our tournament, please fill out this survey and share it with your students and parents
2. Pictures from during the day and the awards ceremony are now available here
3. We hope more Science Olympiad alumni will want to give back to Science Olympiad. Seniors who are interested in volunteering can contact Peter Hung. Volunteers don’t have to be attending a local college next year - we can connect them to tournament officials in other states too!
4. The Certificates of Excellence and Appreciation have been emailed to the coaches for their use

Thank you again and we look forward to seeing all of you at the local tournaments next year!

4/5/25 - Communique 5

The scores are now finalized. There were no changes to the preliminary scores. Monta Vista High School and Kennedy Middle School will be representing us from Northern California at this year’s National Science Olympiad in Nebraska. Congratulations everyone and we look forward to seeing all of you next year!

4/5/25 - Communique 4

The Division B and Division C Preliminary Scores are now posted.

Head coaches will have 30 minutes from the end of the Awards Ceremony to submit any score inquiry by emailing peterhung@norcalscioly.org. As a reminder, this period is only for tabulation questions (e.g. your team received a no-show when your team was there).

4/4/25 - Communique 3

Just a couple of final reminders for tomorrow’s NorCal state Tournament.

Emergencies:
On tournament day, for emergencies, please call 911.

Minor Procedural Issues: (909) 914-0553
On the day of the event, this is the number for quick procedural issues (Event Supervisor missing for an event, Event Supervisor asking for student ID to let students in, Event Supervisors not allowing certain items that should be allowed, etc.) In general, call this number to get something fixed quickly (not to appeal).

Arbitrations:
If your team needs to file an appeal, the head coach has been sent a link for the appeal form.

Awards Ceremony:
The Awards Ceremony is expected to take place in the Gym at 5:30 PM.

Preliminary and Finalized Scores:
Preliminary scores will be emailed to the head coaches. Head coaches will have 30 minutes from the end of the Awards Ceremony to submit any score inquiry by emailing peterhung@norcalscioly.org. As a reminder, this period is only for tabulation questions (e.g. your team received a no-show when your team was there).

We look forward to seeing you and your team on April 6th at CSUEB. We wish you a very successful visit, filled with enthusiasm, praiseworthy conduct, personal integrity, and a wonderful learning experience.
Best wishes to you and all the members of your team and supporting community.

3/25/25 - Communique 2

[Urgent] Self-Scheduled Event Sign-Up Opens Today:
Self-Schedule Event Sign-Up will open today, Tuesday, March 25th, 5:00 PM, and it will close on Tues, April 1st, 5:00 PM. Please be sure to go to https://esus.socalscioly.org/admin_log.php?tid=330 and not the scilympiad page.
Please note that the teams are signing up for a one-hour time block for the self-scheduled events and for all events (except for the trial events Botany C and Remote Sensing B), teams can show up any time to the time block that they signed up for. Event Supervisors will call teams up within the time block on a first-come-first-served basis. A competitor can still compete in multiple self-scheduled events within a time block and we ask them to show up to one of their events at the beginning of the block so that they can compete in their other self-scheduled event when they’re done with their first event. For the Trial Events, teams should show up at the beginning of the time block they signed up for so that they will receive all 50 minutes for the event.

Parent Volunteer Assignments:
As with last year, teams no longer have to write and run an event because all of the events are now run by Science Olympiad volunteers. We do still ask each team to provide parent volunteers to help out on the day for a couple of hours. The parent volunteer assignments are now posted here. The specific assignments will be provided by the Event Supervisors but they’re typically things like helping time things or making sure the gym doors are closed during flight. Teams must have 1 adult volunteer for the 2.5 hours. Please make sure to let your parent volunteers know when and where they need to be on the day of the event. Parent Volunteers should report directly to the assignment (not check-in table), they need to let the event supervisor(s) know which school they're representing and that they're parent volunteers. Please make sure that the adult volunteer(s) do not have any conflicts of interest with their role (e.g. coaching a team in the division they’re volunteering with or having relatives competing in the division they’re volunteering with). If you have any questions regarding your assignment, please let us know.

Helicopters B/C Venue Dimensions:
Helicopters B/C will take place in the racketball court in the gym. The size of the court is ~6m high, ~6m wide, and ~12m deep.

3/20/25 - Communique 1

Congratulations and welcome to the annual Northern California State Science Olympiad hosted on the campus of the California State University, East Bay in Hayward, on Saturday, April 5th, 2025. Below, you will find some important and useful information about the upcoming program. Please be aware that some of these items are time-sensitive and require immediate attention.

Online Registration (Time Sensitive):
The head coach should have received an email with the form to register your team. Please be sure to register by Friday, March 21st at 5 pm. This is how we will confirm that you are receiving our emails and updates and are planning to attend the upcoming program. You can also add the contact information for one co-coach and one team email, so we have more than one way to contact your team in case you will be on break. Please note that you do not need to submit the names of students, alternates, or parent volunteers during the registration at this time, so please register ASAP. Only the first submission will be accepted, so please coordinate with any co-coaches.

Spring Break Recess:
We understand that many of you will be on Spring Break in the upcoming weeks. Please note that any updates will be sent to both your email address and posted online. Please ask your students to check the state web page at https://scilympiad.com/norcal during their Spring Break, especially if you will not be able to relay relevant information to the team. You can also add the contact information for one co-coach and one team email in the online registration form.

Schedule and Team Numbers:
An updated preliminary schedule with room numbers has been posted on the State web page at https://scilympiad.com/norcal/Docs/UsefulDocs. While we do not expect any major changes to the schedule, we will let you know if there are any updates to the schedule. If there are any updates to the schedule, the one posted on this web page will also be updated.
Team numbers can be viewed here.

Trial Events:
We will be running Botany C for High School students and Remote Sensing B for Middle School Students as Trial Events this year. The rules for these events are in the rules manual. The trial events do not count toward the team total but medals will be awarded. Any students from your school, including but not limited to the 15 official members, may participate in these events. These students will receive wristbands and they must fill out all the forms as required for the 15-member teams as well as be listed on the team roster.

15 Official Team Members Roster Requirement:
The head coach of the team should bring and submit a final official roster of participating students (15-member team and students participating in the Trial Events) on the day of the tournament during the morning check-in time. The head coach needs to also submit the release forms for the students. If there is a change in the composition of the team, this is simply recorded on the roster that you bring on the day of the event. Wristbands will be provided for your team members upon check-in. You will receive up to fifteen (15) wristbands for the official members of the team depending on the size of your team and up to two (2) additional wristbands for the students participating in the trial events. Please be aware that there is no maximum or minimum number of events that any student must compete in at the State Tournament. We are aware that teams may employ an organizational system that includes maximum or minimum numbers to manage the team and schedule, but that is not a requirement of the State Science Olympiad program. Please make sure you check the National Science Olympiad guidelines at https://www.soinc.org/start-team/team-size-grade-levels on who can be on your 15-member team.
As a reminder, there can be a maximum of seven 12th graders on a Div C team and five 9th graders on a Div B team. This applies only to the official 15-member team. Those participating in the trial events do not have to follow the maximum 12th/9th grader limit as the scores for the trial events do not impact team ranking.
We do not expect schools to substitute team members during the tournament. However, if an emergency should arise and a student on your team is unable to compete, you should discuss that situation with a Tournament Coordinator on the day of the event.

No Practicing at CSUEB:
Please remind your parents and teams that practicing your devices at CSUEB is strictly prohibited prior to the tournament. Teams should arrive no earlier than 7 AM on Saturday. We’re grateful that CSUEB is willing to host the State Tournament and that they’ve committed to sharing their staff and selected facilities on Saturday, April 5th. Research and classes are still ongoing and it is not acceptable to come onto campus to practice in the gyms or other facilities. Please do not jeopardize the possibility of having CSUEB host this and other Science Olympiad events in the future and do not risk your team being penalized.

Online Sign-Up for Self-Scheduled Events:
We will be using the Event Sign-Up System (ESUS), for the self-scheduled event sign-ups. The link to access the self-schedule sign-up is https://esus.socalscioly.org/admin_log.php?tid=330
Login information will be emailed to the head coaches of each team by 10:00 AM Mon, March 24th. If you do not receive the username and password by Mon, March 24th noon, please contact us immediately because the self-scheduled event online sign-up will open on Tues, March 25th at 5:00 PM, and will close on Tues, April 1st at 5:00 PM. You will NOT be able to sign up for these events after it closes. For technical issues, please contact esus@socalscioly.org.

Parent Volunteer Assignments:
Similar to last year, we are asking each team to provide an adult volunteer to help with tasks on tournament day. Each team must provide about 3 people- hours of support. The assignments will not require technical knowledge of the events and may include: making sure the doors are shut for the flight events, helping with delivering lunches, checking in students, helping at the registration table, etc. Most assignments can be performed by just 1 adult volunteer for 3 hours. Please make sure that the adult volunteer(s) do not have any conflicts of interest with their role (e.g. coaching a team in the division they’re volunteering with, or having relatives competing in the division they’re volunteering with).

Hosting Campus Location and Parking:
The physical address of CSUEB is 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd, Hayward, CA 94542
Parking is free in Lot G and Lot H. Please follow all traffic signage posts.

Map
The tournament map can be found at https://scilympiad.com/norcal/Docs/UsefulDocs Please share this with your participants and guests to help them navigate the campus.

Scilympiad Usage
While we will be using Scilympiad for posting of information, teams will not have to create accounts or submit any other input (student names, forms, etc.) into Scilymipad.

Check-In on the Day of the Tournament:
Head Coach Check-in is from 7:15 AM to 8:15 AM on April 5th, 2025, immediately inside the (North) entrance to the Science Buildilng (SC-N on the map). Please do not arrive on campus until 7:00 AM; there is no overnight camping on campus. The head coach of the team should go to check in and turn in the following material. They can be downloaded at https://scilympiad.com/norcal/Docs/UsefulDocs):
- Final team roster with the participants’ names and grade levels.
- Release form for 15 official member team and any students participating in the trial events
If an event requires impound, the device must be impounded during the time stated in the schedule. Teams will not need wristbands to impound their devices since the impound period is the same as the period when the head coach checks in and receives wristbands. However, per the rules, all devices must still be impounded by one or more of the 15 official team members. Parents or other non-participants may not impound devices for their team, but they may accompany the team members to help transport or carry things.

Home Base Areas:
While home rooms are not provided, when teams arrive on campus in the morning, they can find a space on the lawn/concrete to set up as their home base. Please be sure to avoid blocking the exits of buildings for safety reasons.

Wheelchair Accessibility:
Please let us know if anyone on your team requires wheelchair access.

Emergency Contact Information:
In case of a medical emergency, please call 911.

Science Olympiad Code of Ethics & General Rules:
Please review with your students and parents the Science Olympiad Code of Ethics & General Rules at https://www.soinc.org/code-ethics-general-rules

Photography on the Day of the Event:
We will have media and official photographers on the day of the tournament. If your student(s) wish(es) not to be in photos/videos on the day of the event, they should be instructed to remove themselves from the photo, videos, and/or interview situation to avoid compromising the information for broadcasting and newscasts.
Please note that teams can only photograph or videotape a device if the device belongs to the photographer's affiliated school. In the case that a team wants to take pictures of another school's device(s), permission from the owner of the device(s) must be given. Please refer to the National Science Olympiad Media Recommendation https://www.soinc.org/sites/default/files/uploaded_files/ScienceOlympiad_MediaRecommendations.pdf. If your team has a unique design that you do not want other teams to use, please make sure you protect it by covering the device in some manner.

Food Availability:
Teams are welcome to bring food with them to their home base on Saturday. Please note that Pioneer Kitchen on campus will be open. There are also a few places near campus: China Best Restaurant, Bronco Billy's Pizza Palace, Fresh Fuel Juicery, and Pearl's Caffe.
Cooking and any open flames are prohibited due to safety regulations. Under no circumstances should you cook or reheat food during the day. Please do not use the microwave in the Cave room in the Science Building.

Restrooms:
Please note that restrooms are available in each of the buildings that we’re using for the tournament. The only exception is the N-326 women's Staff bathroom in the Science Building

Awards Ceremony:
The Awards Ceremony is expected to take place in the Gym at 5:30 PM.

Materials Science C:

For the concrete puck drop activity, the puck will be dropped on a steel plate.

Helicopters B/C Venue Dimensions:
Helicopters B/C will take place in the racketball court in the gym. Dimensions of the space will be posted soon.

9/3/24 - Welcome to the 2024-2025 Science Olympiad Season

Welcome to the 2024-2025 Science Olympiad season! The 2025 NorCal State Schedule has been posted. We believe in aligning our schedule with the National schedule event grouping/conflict. As we get closer to the tournament season, this schedule will be updated to include room numbers after confirming with the hosting venue but the event conflict/group is not expected to change.