NAASO Update #3

Dear Coaches and Captains,

We are less than 48 hours away from the start of the invitational! We are excited to have your teams participating.

1. Please submit your student rosters and event assignments.

Please make sure your student rosters are submitted and that students are assigned to their teams and corresponding events.

If you are new to Scilympiad, please refer to this instructional video: https://youtu.be/o4wNJt3yS6I

I considered voicing the tutorial myself, but the AI-generated voice actually sounds pretty good—and has much better pronunciation than I do! I have reviewed the video and can confirm that the instructions are correct.

For students, we also prepared a short video guide showing how to navigate Scilympiad and take the tests on tournament day:

https://youtu.be/Fjoqzhoh2X8

This one features my own horrible pronunciation—apparently students preferred that over AI slop.

2. The Event Modifications document is now up to date.

Please ask your students to review the latest Event Modifications before taking their tests. Several events have special instructions, including:

Engineering CAD (E-CAD): Instructions for submitting the email address used for the classroom.

Codebusters: Instructions for printing the test packet to reduce the pain of doing Codebusters entirely online.

Experimental Design: A list of materials that students should prepare in advance.

To make it easier for head coaches, students will also see the most important event-specific instructions directly on the tournament website.

3. Code of Honor and Team Presentation Submission

We have already received several submissions, and we greatly appreciate your prompt response.

To make the process easier, coaches can use the Check-In Form (https://forms.gle/45WWbSX5bsTSvWtg8) to submit both the Code of Honor form and your team logo/artwork, which we will use to represent your team during the awards ceremony.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone get started!

Best, Anh

NAASO Update #2

Dear Coaches and Club Presidents, We hope this email makes it to your inbox rather than your spam folder! All updates can be found on our website (https://scilympiad.com/ny-naaso/QnAs/doc/tournament-updates) We are now less than a week away from the opening of the tournament. Here are a few important items that may require your attention:

1. Registration Fee Payment

We understand that it is still early in the season and that securing a check through your school or district can sometimes take several weeks. If you have already mailed your check but your payment status has not yet been updated, or if you expect your check to arrive after the tournament opens, please contact our tournament director at acao@northernacademy.org. We are happy to work with you.

2. Code of Honor Submission

Please email the completed Code of Honor forms to our tournament director at acao@northernacademy.org. Students will need to know their assigned Student ID when completing the form. Having this completed before the tournament begins will save coaches and students a great deal of time during the competition window.

3. Team Numbers Have Been Assigned

Team numbers are being assigned on an ongoing basis as registrations are finalized. Coaches and Club Presidents should now be able to assign students to their respective teams and assign events to each student through Scilympiad. Please refer to the Coach Guidefor instructions. If you encounter any difficulties with team assignments, student registration, or event assignments, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are happy to help.

4. Team Representation for the Awards Ceremony

One thing that can make satellite tournaments feel a little “boring” is that, despite all the effort students put into competing, their team may ultimately be represented by nothing more than a line of text on an awards slide. At NAASO this year, we would like to make the awards ceremony a little more personal and exciting by including team logos, team photos, mascots, or other images that represent your school or Science Olympiad program. Please feel free to submit anything you would like us to use to represent your school or teams during the awards ceremony. Materials can be emailed to our tournament director at acao@northernacademy.org.

5. Tests will be LONNNGGG

We are still in the process of trimming down our tests—our test writers may have been a little too excited and had a little too much time on their hands! Even after trimming, however, NAASO tests will still be on the longer end of the Science Olympiad spectrum. This is intentional. We want students to practice an important competition skill: quickly skimming through a test, identifying which questions they can tackle effectively, and choosing their battles wisely. Finishing every question may not always be realistic, and learning how to manage time strategically is part of the experience. Please refer to the Event Modifications for event-specific information. The document will continue to be updated, with another major update planned for October 4 before the tournament opens.

We are very excited to welcome all of you to the inaugural NAASO Invitational. Thank you again for participating and for helping us make this tournament possible.

If you have any questions or concerns as we approach the opening of the tournament, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Best regards,

Anh Cao

Tournament Director

Northern Academy of the Arts Science Olympiad Invitational (NAASO)

NAASO update #1 - Event modifications, Code of Honor, Scilympiad, and State registration

Dear Coaches,

First of all, on behalf of NAASO, I would like to thank you for registering for our inaugural invitational. We are working very hard to ensure that your students have a meaningful and enjoyable experience, even though this is a satellite invitational.

As this is our first year, we will inevitably encounter a few issues along the way. Please do not hesitate to let us know if there is anything we can do to help or support you and your teams throughout the process.

1. Event Modifications Released

The event modifications are now available on our Scilympiad homepage: https://scilympiad.com/ny-naaso

I have also attached a copy to this email. However, please note that this is a living document, and our test writers may continue to make updates and clarifications as we approach the tournament. Therefore, please remind your students to check the live document before taking their tests.

Live document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LujpstBJLZ3KEG9P2MnZhgtlSDReVcMq/edit?usp=share_link&ouid=113188234725557465890&rtpof=true&sd=true

2. Competition Integrity and Code of Honor

At NAASO, we take competition integrity seriously. While medals are certainly not the most important part of Science Olympiad—although much of our registration revenue this year is going toward producing custom medals—we see this invitational as an opportunity for students to pressure-test their knowledge and experience a Science Olympiad competition early in the season.

At the same time, we understand that not every team can provide proctors for every event or have all students take their tests at exactly the same time. We want to minimize the burden on coaches while maintaining a fair competition.

Therefore, we require all participating students to sign our Code of Honor. Only one form per team is needed, but every participating team member must sign it. Please have your students complete the attached form before the competition.

Team placements will only be officially recognized if we have the required signatures on file.

Completing this form also gives students an opportunity to confirm their Scilympiad login IDs in advance, which should make things much smoother on competition day.

C‍ode of Honor link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OzVdy0AhNc73JRaCgC9jFutIJ5_iz8zV/view?usp=share_link ‍

3. Reducing the Burden on Head Coaches

We encourage each team to have a student leader, such as the club president or team captain, create an account and become familiar with the NAASO Scilympiad website.

Student leaders can help assign students to teams and events, and they can also serve as a backup on competition day if someone forgets a login ID or needs help resetting a password. Our goal is to make the process as easy as possible for head coaches.

For teams that are new to Scilympiad, please consult the attached guide on how to navigate the website. Scilympiad is admittedly not the most user-friendly platform, but once your team is set up, much of the information can be reused for other online invitationals throughout the season.

Please let me know if you need any assistance with Scilympiad. We are more than happy to help.

G‍uide: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WhlvbJXu-COekaShsqAIwylBZ8Rentzb/view?usp=share_link

4. State Registration

Finally, please remember to register your Science Olympiad team with your state organization.

NAASO is required to provide our participating school list to the appropriate state directors before the tournament begins, so please make sure your state registration is completed before the competition.

Again, thank you so much for joining us for our inaugural NAASO Invitational. Your participation means a great deal to us, and we are committed to making this a meaningful and well-run experience for your students.

We are very excited to have you with us!

Best regards,

Anh Cao Director, NAASO acao@northernacademy.org

Event Modifications Released.

The tournament policies and event modifications were released here

Registration opens August 15, 2026.

Teams may register for the NAASO Invitational beginning July 15, 2026. Registration is first-come, first-served and will close on October 1, 2026, or earlier if the tournament reaches the 100-team capacity.

The competition window runs October 5-19, 2026. Teams will compete online and asynchronously through SciLympiad, allowing participation across time zones and school schedules.

NAASO Invitational registration information is now available.

Registration will open August 15, 2026. Teams may review the tournament dates, team cap, registration fee, and online competition format before registration begins.