SHARE:  

March 28, 2024

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.

Science Olympiad Founders Scholarship 2024

Science Olympiad Founders' Scholarships

Calling all high school seniors! The application for the 2024 Founders' Scholarship is now open! The Science Olympiad USA Foundation will award $10,000 scholarships to five outstanding leaders. Apply today and read about the previous recipients! Your application must be in by April 8, 2024 at midnight CT.

See you at MSU in 3 weeks!

Unless otherwise noted, all resources listed here are on the school teams and coaches page of the Montana Science Olympiad website.


Hotel blocks

If you're looking for lodging in Bozeman, note that some of our hotel blocks expire soon.


MoR STEM Night deadline April 10

April 10 is the deadline to register for Museum of the Rockies STEM night -- free for all teams on the night before the tournament (April 18).


Talks and Tours registration will open April 8

Talks and Tours registration will open on Monday, April 8 -- watch for these exciting opportunities to tour MSU labs and studios; meet professors and students, and learn about cool research projects in the 1pm to 2pm time slot after competitions have ended and before the awards ceremony begins.


Ag Sciences Trial Event

Just a reminder that we are running the Trial Event called Ag Sciences (Plants) for both Division B and C this year. While points do not count toward the team trophy, students can still earn a medal for first, second and third place. Note that this event requires students to do an experiment ahead of time and share their notes and observations with the judges during the tournament. Read the Division B or C Manual for the full description.


Block schedule (first draft) with room assignments / conflict information

We will be sending out the first draft of the "block schedule" this week. Please note that this MAY NOT be the final schedule as we discover conflicts with room reservations on campus or with our event supervisors. However, it will give you a general sense of when your students may be competing in their events. We anticipate that any future versions will have small changes, not major changes.


Additionally, we are committed to accommodating any event conflicts -- we will make sure your students can compete! Next week when we send an updated schedule (if any changes) we will also share a Google Form link where you can share any event conflicts so we can try to solve them ahead of time.


The overall tournament day schedule is listed on the Competition Day Materials page and is similar to last year's schedule.


Any accommodations needed for students?

Hi -- if your students need any accommodations in order to participate fully in Science Olympiad, please email mtscioly@montana.edu ASAP. Please note that one of our events is currently scheduled for an upper floor of a building that does not have an elevator. If any of your students will be unable to participate please contact us immediately!



Sciympiad

Scilympiad is our scoring software and also the place where you register your team, add your students' names, and then assign them to the events they will do. This is flexible, so you can move students around as needed, but we need you to be in Scilympiad and actively taking on these tasks. All the instructions are here.

By now, you should have

  • Made a new account or logged into your existing account
  • Registered your team
  • At this point, WE need to manually verify your team. You will not be able to proceed until we have done this. We try to go as fast as we can, but please be patient.


Once we have verified your team, you can:

  • Add all your student's names
  • Start assigning students to events
  • Ask your students to sign the Science Olympiad code of ethics and photo release. You do not need to get a principal's signature, although Scilympiad will indicate that you need to.


Any questions? Email mtscioly@montana.edu

Student Webinar Series continues!

Thanks to requests from student competitors and coaches, we launched a student webinar series this year that helps students connect with event supervisors and learn more about their events. These sessions are recorded. Students must pre-register to get the WebEx link. Visit our School Teams and Coaches page for more info and to sign up and view past sessions.


Monday, April 1 · 4-5pm · Wind Power with Kayce Williams


Weds., April 10 · 4-5pm ·  Tournament Wisdom with the MSU Science Olympiad Student Club. Please encourage ALL your students to attend! Our Club members have been working hard to share their tips for making the most of this amazing tournament. They were competitors themselves and have great ideas to share.


Past events (watch the recordings): Experimental Design and Tower

Tips for Team Success  

Science Olympiad is a rigorous competition that closely follows the rules set out by the national organization. Unfortunately, we see a few misunderstandings each year. Here are a few tips to be thinking about prior to the Science Olympiad Student Club's presentation on April 10.


These are three slip-ups we see: 

Preparing for an event that Montana doesn't offer. We do not offer ALL of the events that are offered at the national level. Even though an event is listed in the rules manual, it may not be hosted at our Montana state tournament. See the Events page to be sure. 

  

Trying to enter an event more than once. A team may enter each event only once. In other words, you may not have several pairs of students entering Write It Do It, nor can you bring several bridges for the Bridge contest. If your school is bringing two

  

Bringing the wrong materials to a contest. Read the rules manuals very carefully to see what you can and can't bring. Items that are allowed (or prohibited) may include calculators, rulers, reference guides, etc. Always be sure to bring any required safety equipment, too! 

  

PRO TIP: What is impound?  

If an event has an "impound," that means you must bring your device to the impound area before the competition starts, even if you are not scheduled to compete until later in the day. This levels the playing field for everyone, because teams can't see how other teams' devices are performing and then make modifications throughout the day. This would give an advantage to teams that compete later than others. Instead, all devices (including bridges, machines, etc) in an impound contest must be turned in before the event begins. This time will be specified in the Tournament Day schedule. 

Don't forget our FAQ page!


As coaches send questions that are helpful to everyone, we post them on the Science Olympiad FAQ page. Be sure to look here and also on the Events page for event clarifications before emailing us a question.

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


The rule book is your friend! Download the rules manuals for the 2023-24 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

Facebook