2022 Div BC Season Kickoff

What is Science Olympiad?

Science Olympiad is:

• One of the premier science tournament organizations in the US

• An international non-profit organization

• Devoted to improving the quality of science education

• An exposure to many fields of science

• Focused on coordinating with schools and meeting national curriculum standards

Science Olympiad is not:

• Science Fair – students do not create their own projects

• An emphasis on any one particular field of science

• A competition for individuals: SO is team-based

A Tournament is Like a Track Meet

15 Students on the Team Covering up to 23 events. (Schools can field up to 3 teams)

Students Have Expert Topic Areas

Students receive medals in the events

Students don’t compete as individuals, but work in pairs or trios on events

Team Overall Score Based on Student Scores in Individual Events

Top Teams progress to the nextlevel of competition

Priorities

• Addressing an Uncertain Pandemic Situation

� Need to respect the requirements/needs/concerns of competitors, volunteers, parents and venues

• Aligning with Nationals

� The National Tournament (sponsored by CalTech) will be a “satellite model” – all activities held at school, with remote judging

• Creating a meaningful tournament experience

� Bringing back the building events

� Creating as much of the in-person energy and experience as possible

� Keeping the strong relationship with the alums and other volunteers who made our last year so spectacular

VASO Tournament Model

REGIONAL MODEL – A HYBRID MODEL

A virtual Written Test Day & in-person Device-Testing Day• Mix between National’s satellite model (all performed and judged within

schools) and in-person model

• Sensitive to the concerns of all parties

• Brings back the builds, with in-person judging

• Brings back some in-person experience. Teams will be together for both days – and cheering for Device Day!

• By pulling the devices out of the satellite model, we don’t ask coaches to reserve gym space, set up labs, have build testing equipment, monitor safety, etc.

STATE MODEL

Our hope is to have an in-person State tournament at UVA.

SO WHAT DOES A HYBRID REGIONAL LOOK LIKE?

Regional Hybrid Model

Written Test Day

REGIONAL WRITTEN TEST DAY

• One written test day for all teams in Virginia. In general, this includes the written test component of the hybrid events (e.g. WiFi Lab).

• Tests will be administered in Scilympiad – a testing program written specifically for SO

• Teams will gather at their schools and coaches and their designees will proctor the tests

• Tests will be on a six-session traditional schedule

• Partners may sit beside each other (or in earshot) rather than distanced in different rooms – assuming individual school rules allow this

Regional Hybrid Model

Device Testing Day

DEVICE TESTING DAY

• Teams have a choice of “Device Testing Days” where the build events will be held

• The “Device Day” you attend determines which “Regional” you are in

• Teams have a roughly two hour window on the campus to rotate through all their building events

• Teams limited to two chaperones. Build events will not be open to the public, but team members may watch.

• Possibly we will ask teams to bring one volunteer to help while they are present – will probably vary based on venue (ex. UVA students will most likely support a Charlottesville site)

Challenges of the Hybrid Regional Model

Challenges:

• Written Test Day - Arrangements need to be made for time and space at the school.

• Require teams to give two Saturdays to a tournament, rather than one.

• Require coaches to finalize their roster before the Written Test Day and disallow them from changing it at all for Device Day (to ensure 15 students on a team) – mostly a Division C issue

Expected Dates

Regional Written Test Day• A single day – We had been targeting January 29, 2022, but now

we need to re-evaluate

Regional Device Testing Days (schools will attend one)• Two Northern VA locations

� February 12, 2022

� February 26, 2022

• One Charlottesville location� Anticipate February 19, 2022

State Tournament• Anticipated at UVA on March 26, 2022

The Elephant in the Room

Vaccination/Masks:

• VASO asks that on Written Test day, teams follow the requirements/guidance of their school.

• For Device Day, teams and VASO personnel will be expected to observe COVID restrictions in place by both the state and the site.

� Certainly expect that to include masks

� Best guess – it will require full vaccination of adults –that is currently the requirement of FCPS for teachers/chaperones

� We have always had parents sign a student release for students. We will ask adults to sign a release as well

2022 EVENTS

LOTS OF INFORMATION ON EVENTS, CONFLICTS AND THE SCHEDULE!

https://virginiaso.org/events.php

(We’ll take a short trip over to that view.)

REGISTRATION HIGHLIGHTS

REGISTRATION HIGHLIGHTS (virginiaso.org/registration.php)

• Google form to let us know of your intent to register

• Registration packet is available (on the registration page of the website)

• Going to be using two systems:� VASO Portal: Registration, payment, permissions

� Scilympiad – just for testing

• We will not be asking teams for Event Writers or Supervisors for regionals.

• As we get close to Device Day, we may ask each team to bring one volunteer (to operate a stopwatch, for example)

• High school coaches will also be able to register student leadership to receive emails and access the Portal

But do realize….

In-Person Tournaments need many more workers -

An in-person States means that Teams at States will need to:

• Offer an Event Supervisor (an “Event Supervisor” – an event judge)

• Provide several additional volunteers to be extra hands

REGISTRATION FEE- Including a Northrop Grumman grant

VASO DIV B/C REGISTRATION PRICE2021-2022

* DISCOUNT GIVEN TO ALL SCHOOLS THIS YEAR *(Amount Based on Free Reduced Lunch Percentage)

Updated 9/1/21

1 team 2 teams 3 teams

Undiscounted Price $300.00 $500.00 $700.00

(no one pays this)

REGISTRATION FEE DISCOUNTED BY LAST YEAR'S VASO SURPLUSFRL < 33.3% $260.00 $430.00 $600.00

REGISTRATION FEE DISCOUNTED BY A GRANT FROM NORTHROP GRUMMAN33.3% <= FRL <= 45% $52.00 $86.00 $120.00

FRL > 45% $26.00 $43.00 $60.00

2022 Registration Fee

DETERMINING YOUR SO REGISTRATION FEE:

GOOD NEWS! In an effort to support schools as they recover

from the pandemic, all teams will receive a registration discount this

year. A special thank you goes to Northrop Grumman for their grant

to considerably lessen the fee for high Free & Reduced Lunch schools.

1) Determine how many teams the school will be fielding

Schools may field up to 3 teams.

VASO strongly encourages first year schools to field only

one team as they get their program running.

2) Determine the school's percentage of Free & Reduced Lunch students

3) Look up the charge on the table below.

Payments will be accepted via check or credit card/PayPal

The most current DOE Free and Reduced Lunch Percentages can be found at:

However, this is one year out of date. If your school has more recent official

statistics, please submit them and we will take that information instead.

https://virginiaso.org/pdf/DOEFRL.pdf

Student Leadership –Re: Registration

VASO allows high school club officers (just one or two please) access to the registration/signup tools.

• Have your students create a generic officer’s email (like HogwartsSO@gmail.com) � Student leaders can all check it or it can forward to them. � This email could then be passed from officer group to officer

group over the years.

• Use that email as the signup for the Portal and Scilympiad. � Don’t put their personal names on it. Use something like

“Hogwarts Student Leadership”

Other Thoughts

MY SO

Seesoinc.org/mysofor info

• For individuals. Not a tournament structure

• An add-on program that can be used as a standalone or to support any SO season.

• A 9-month, calendar-based SO program for Div B and Div C ages.

• Each themed month will offer free resources like Lesson Plans and STEM Sessions, webinars and interviews about careers and workforce.

• Optional STEM Showdown ($10) at the end of each month where individuals can compete for prizes and a national monthly leaderboard.

• Any student (whether on a team or not) can use the free resources

• Any student can participate in the optional STEM Showdown

• VASO will receive 25% of any Showdown fees that are collected from Virginia

Invitationals (in Virginia and elsewhere)

Invitationals – will be an enormous variety out there• Remember – these are independently run tournaments.

� They may have a different format� They may use a different schedule or select different events� Most certainly will require an additional cost from you –

typically $60-$120 per team (and it will not be discounted)� Virtual Invitationals (which most of them will be) will each

have their own Scilympiad site – so you will need to make sure that you and your students are on the correct site on tournament day

� If you are using an Invitational to practice for your VASO regional, don’t be panicked by events we aren’t running here. You don’t have to do all the events at an Invitational!

• More information will be coming about the Fairfax HS (Div C) and Lake Braddock (Div B) Invitationals.

Student Outreach Network(SNet)

Student Outreach Network (SNet)

• Founded last year by a group of High School students looking to serve the VASO community

• Connection between teams� They are looking for high school SO students to volunteer

� Recognizes that teams can help other teams

• Online mentoring education sessions

• More information will be coming

Resources

Some Resources:

• New Coach Liaison

• Event Resources – VASO website, National website, Scioly

• VASO Clarifications – IMPORTANT – will make potential changes to events

• SNet sessions

• October – VASO Coach Clinic

• November – VASO Building Event Open House

Social Media

Follow us on Social Media!

• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/VASciOlympiad

• Twitter - https://twitter.com/VASciOlympiad

• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/vasciolympiad/

• YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/VirginiaScienceOlympiad

2022 Div BC Season Kickoff