4/9/24 - Communique 7

Thanks again for all your hard work in providing the opportunity for your team to participate in Science Olympiad this year. It’s been such a wonderful experience working with all of you, and I really appreciate your understanding of the various last-minute changes due to the loss of Stan State as our host site.

Feedback Survey:
To help us improve our tournament in future years, a survey has been sent to the coaches. We would like our competitors and parents to fill out the survey. Please reach out to your coach for the survey link.

Picture from the Tournament:
Pictures from the day and the awards ceremony can be viewed and downloaded here.

Getting More Science Olympiad Alumni:
We hope that your students will want to give back to Science Olympiad when they’re in college. Please ask your seniors who are interested in volunteering next year to contact us at peterhung@norcalscioly.org They don’t have to be attending a local college next year - we can connect them to tournament officials in other states too!

Certificate of Excellence and Appreciation:
The Certificate of Excellence and Appreciation were sent to the head coach for their use.

Thank you again for all that you do for the students and the program, and we look forward to seeing you at local tournaments next year!

4/6/24 - Communique 6

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 Michigan. Congratulations everyone and we look forward to seeing all of you next year!

4/6/24 - Communique 5

Division B and Division C Preliminary Scores are now posted on Duosmium. Head coaches will have 30 minutes from the end of the Awards Ceremony to submit any score inquiry by emailing Peter Hung. As a reminder, this period is only for tabulation questions (e.g. your team received a no-show when your team was there).

4/4/24 - Communique 4

Reminders:
As we approach this year's State Tournament, please remind your team (students, parents, and guests) of the following:
- Do not park or arrive on campus until 7:00 AM.
- Do not photograph or take videos of another team’s device without their permission.
- Review the Code of Conduct and Media Recommendation

Room Changes:
The following events have updated rooms. These are reflected in the latest schedule (v4)
- Agricultural Science B: move from SC-N206 to SC-S-302
- Agricultural Science C: moved from SC-N206 to SC-N104
- Meteorology B: moved from SC-N207 to SC-N119
- Road Scholar B: moved from SC-N207 to SC-N237
Note: On the schedule, the Upper Gym is listed as PE Room 0201A and the gym is PE Rm 0145. Both are in the PE building

Parent Volunteer Assignments:
The parent volunteer assignments are posted. 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 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.

Food Availability::
Pioneer Kitchen and Micro Market (DC), Starbucks (LI), and Jamba Juice (RW) are open on tournament day. Please see their schedule at https://dineoncampus.com/csueb/hours-of-operation
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

Parking:
Parking is free in Lot G and Lot H. Please follow all traffic signage posts. Please do not park in Lots A and B (during the awards ceremony) as there will be soccer spectator parking/tailgating in lots A and B over by the Gym, Stadium/Baseball/Soccer Field, and will experience delays/traffic in that vicinity during our Awards Ceremony.

Check-In::
When the head coach arrives on the morning of the event, they should submit all of the following in an envelope at the check-in table immediately inside the (North) entrance to the Science Building (SC-N on the map)
- Team Roster with the official team of 15 participants from the school
- Consent Forms for everyone affiliated with the team who will be on campus that day.
Once the head coach has turned in these required forms, they will receive up to 15 participant wristbands for the official members of the team. Please make sure to print out enough copies of the map and schedule for the team's use as there will be a limited number of maps and schedules available on the day of the event.

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 must submit an online appeal form that was sent to the coaches via email

Awards Ceremony:

The Awards Ceremony is expected to take place in the Gym at 5:15 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 Saturday. 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.

3/28/24 - Communique 3

Agricultural Science B/C (Trial):
Part A: Students will be tested on YEAR 1 topics.
Part B: Students will still be expected to have performed an agricultural experiment and submit a “notebook”. The notebook may just be a printed document - it does not need to be actual notes or a bound notebook. No impound is required; students should just bring their notebooks to the event when they go to compete.

Parking Reminder:
There will be a soccer game on campus at the soccer field on Saturday at 7 pm, and our host has requested that Science Olympiad teams only park in lots G and H (and not move near the Gym/Lots A & B) as there will be soccer spectator parking/tailgating in lots A and B over by the Gym, Stadium/Baseball/Soccer Field and will experience delays/traffic in that vicinity during our Awards Ceremony.

3/20/24 - Communique 2

[Urgent] Self-Scheduled Event Sign-Up Opens tomorrow:
Self-Schedule Event Sign-Up will open tomorrow, Thursday, March 21st, 4:30 PM, and it will close on Thurs, March 28th, 4:30 PM. Please be sure to go on this web page and not the Regional web page. Once the head coach logs onto the head coach dashboard, click on “Scheduled-Event Timeblocks” (third column, first item), then click on the blue “Event Signup” button. You should be able to see a list of all available time slots. Please try logging in prior to tomorrow afternoon to make sure this is working for you and let me know if there’s anything I can help with.
Please note that the teams are signing up for a one-hour time block for the self-scheduled events and for all events (except Detector Building C), 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 Detector Building C, because it is a hybrid event, all 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 written test.

Parent Volunteer Assignments:
The parent volunteer assignments are now posted in the Tournament Document section. 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 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.

Tournament Schedule:
The tournament schedule has been updated to include a link to the picture for each room (except for a few) that the event will take place in. The tournament schedule for the events did not have any changes. The latest schedule can be downloaded in the Tournament Documents section here.

15-Member Team and Alternates:
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. There can be additional 12th graders/9th graders listed as alternates and they can replace one of the official 15-member team members the morning of the tournament as long as the total number of 12th graders/9th graders stays within the maximum limit. 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.

Engineering CAD:

For teams participating in the Trial Event Engineering CAD, please be sure to bring 1 laptop per team to the event. More instructions for this event will be coming next week.

Air Trajectory B/C Venue Dimensions:
The upper gym where Air Trajectory will take place has a ceiling height of 6 meters.

3/14/24 - 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, CA on Saturday, April 6th, 2024. 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!

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 this page during their Spring Break, especially if you will not be able to relay relevant information to the team.

Schedule and Team Numbers:
The preliminary schedule with the room numbers has been posted to the Useful Documents section on this web page. 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.

We are hoping to run 2 trial events in each division this year- Agricultural Science B/C and Engineering CAD B/C, but our priority is to ensure the successful running of the 23 official events in each Division. We will confirm if we can run these two events next week. In the meantime, 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 of the 15 members on the official team and any of the alternates on the roster may participate in these events. These students will not receive or need wristbands but they must fill out all the forms as required for the 15-member teams as well as be listed on the team roster.

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 in the Tournament Document section on this web page. Please share this with your participants and guests to help them navigate the campus.

No Practicing at CSUEB:
Please remind your parents and teams that practicing your devices at the CSUEB Campus is strictly prohibited before 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 6th. Classes are still ongoing and it is not acceptable to come onto campus to practice in the gyms or other facilities.

Online Sign-Up for Self-Scheduled Events:
We will be using Scilympiad for the self-scheduled event sign-ups. To access this, log into the head coach dashboard then click on Self-scheduled Event Signup. From there select the time slot that your team wants to compete in each of the various events.

Please note that the Self-schedule sign-up will open Thursday, March 21st, 4:30 PM and will close on Thurs, March 28th, 4:30 PM.

Scilympiad Usage:
While we will be using Scilympiad for self-scheduled sign-up, teams will not have to input any other input (student names, forms, etc.) into Scilymipad. Team numbers will be assigned prior to next Thursday, but after all Regional Tournaments have been completed (3/16).

Parent Volunteer Assignments:
Since this is the first year we’re having Science Olympiad alumni write the tests and run the events, we’d like to ask each team to provide one adult volunteer for about 2 hours to help us with various smaller tasks (making sure the doors are shut for the flight event, helping with delivering lunches, checking in students, etc.) 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). The assignments will be provided next week after all teams have been confirmed.

15 Official Team Members Roster Requirement:
Our current practice at the Northern California State Science Olympiad is for the head coach of the team to bring and submit a final official roster of participating students (15-member team and alternates) on the day of the tournament during the morning check-in time. 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, depending on the size of your team. Please be aware that there is no maximum or minimum number of events that any student must compete in at the State Tournament. We know 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 on who can be on your 15-member team.

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 one of the tournament staff on the day of the event.

Check-In on the Day of the Tournament:
Head Coach Check-in is from 7:15 AM to 8:15 AM on April 6th, 2024, immediately inside the (North) entrance to the Science Building (SC-N on the map). The head coach of the team should check in and turn in the following material. They can be downloaded in the Tournament Documents section):

• Final team roster with the participants’ names and grade levels. (1 per team)
• Consent Form for all participants, non-participating students, and guests of the school (1 per student/guest)

Once the head coach has turned in these required forms, they will receive up to 15 participant wristbands for the official members of the team. Please make sure to print out enough copies of the map and schedule for the team's use as there will be a limited number of maps and schedules available on the day of the event.

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.

Science Olympiad Code of Ethics' General Rules:
Please review with your students and parents the Science Olympiad Code of Ethics' General Rules.

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.

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 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. 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:
Pioneer Kitchen and Micro Market (DC), Starbucks (LI), and Jamba Juice (RW) are open on tournament day. Please see their schedule at https://dineoncampus.com/csueb/hours-of-operation

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.

Awards Ceremony:
The Awards Ceremony is expected to take place in the Gym at 5:15 PM.

Flight B/C Venue Dimensions:
The gym where Flight will take place is 34m x 53m and the height is 14 meters high. As soon as the space is open in the morning ~7:30 am, teams can go in for trim flights but must stop as soon as the event officially starts at 8:30.

Arbitration:
If your team needs to file an appeal, the head coach must submit an online appeal using this form. All appeals must be submitted within 1 hour of the conclusion of the specific event.

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

Preliminary Scores:
Scores will be posted at the end of the Awards Ceremony. Teams will have 30 minutes 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).