February 22, 2023

This newsletter contains news and information of interest to Montana Science Olympiad coaches - current, past and future. For questions, please contact the MSU Science Math Resource Center.

Important tournament day updates

Block schedule and room assignments - first draft

Our website now includes the first draft of our Block Schedule and room assignments. Click on the Competition Day Materials button on the main web page..

Let us know about conflicts

New this year: Typically we resolve any time conflicts on tournament day, but we will do our best to resolve them ahead of time if we can. Look on the web page for a form where you can notify us.

Scilympiad

If you haven’t yet made an account in Scilympiad, please do so ASAP (or log in to your previous account). If you are making a new coach account, it takes us a little while to attach your team number to your account; once we have done that, you can input your students’ names and assign them to events. All Scilympiad instructions are on the School Coaches and Teams page.

Event updates

Click on the Events button on the MTSO page for updates on floor surfaces for wheeled vehicle, trajectory and scrambler. Detector Building DOES have impound.

Talks & Tours

Teams can choose to participate in optional talks and tours, which will help you become more aware of some of the cool research going on at MSU! Registration will open tomorrow (Thursday, Feb. 23) by 7am. These will be posted on the Competition Day Materials page on the MTSO website. We will continue to add new talks/tours as they come in. The Competition day web page has some alternate things to do on campus if you don’t sign up for a talk or tour.

Parking - very important

A word about parking. Due to ongoing construction and university in session, we are unable to offer onsite parking for school buses this year. We have reserved bus parking at Gallatin County Fairgrounds. As a courtesy, we will offer shuttle service for the bus drivers back to the SUB in the morning and from the SUB to the fairgrounds in the afternoon. Bozeman's Streamline transit also has a stop at the fairgrounds if your bus drivers prefer to travel around town to the mall, downtown, and other points of interest. We will provide detailed information before tournament day.

Helpful resource from National SciOly

Workshop Wednesday: 2023 Preparing Students for Tournaments. Hear from Dr. John Loehr and National Program Director Dan Nichols about best practices for preparing your Science Olympiad team to compete in a tournament and what to do on competition day!

STEM Night at Museum of the Rockies - registration closes 2/28

The Museum of the Rockies hosts a free private event for all registered Science Olympiad teams.

Tuesday, March 7, 2023 - 5:30pm to 8:30pm (come anytime). You can also pick up your team registration materials at this time to save time on tournament day.

The deadline to register is Feb. 28, 2023.

Remember to download the rule books and (continuously) look for event clarifications

The rule book is your friend! Download the rules manuals for the 2022-23 season from the National Science Olympiad website. Encourage your students to study every aspect of the rules - especially what safety equipment is required and what they are allowed to bring with them into the contest.

Never use a previous year's rule book, even if the event has the same title. There may be subtle and not-so-subtle changes in rules and themes from year to year.

The rules clarifications page is also your friend! As questions arise, clarifications to the rules are posted here on the national website.

Do you know an aspiring Science Olympiad coach or STEM teacher interested in cool opportunities? Please share this newsletter so they can join in. Or, they can subscribe at bit.ly/mtso-newsletter