What is Science Olympiad at Lakeshore and White Pines?

• Science Olympiad or SO is an afterschool program for 6th - 9th grade students.
• This is an opportunity for students to extend their science knowledge. They may choose topics that they are interested in and become inspired to delve deeper into how the world works. Each year there are 23 different SO events.
• Practices are essentially classes about the topic.
• SO is also an opportunity to make friends with other kids who share your child’s interest in science and are driven to go “above and beyond” regular school learning.

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1

This sounds exclusive - does my child have to pass a test to participate?

NO!

• We invite any interested student to join.
• All students who join will participate from Dec. to March.
• It is your family's schedule and your child's interests that determine how many events they will do.
• All students can participate in invitational competitions.
• All students are welcome to join the team at the regional competition at Grand Valley but only 30 may compete. (more later)

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2

What does a week in the life of science olympiad look like?

• Students only attend practices of the events they have chosen to join.
• Each event practices ONCE A WEEK after school or on weekends for 1 - 2 .5 hours and in the same place each week.

Descriptions of Events

The practice schedule

This info is also on the website ghmsso.info

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Which of the 23 events should your child sign up for?

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• Events that interest them
• Events that will challenge them
• Events that are in an area of science they are interested in
• Events that fit into their and their families schedule.

Weekday Transportation

Bus transportation

• from White Pines to Lakeshore
• from the GHHS to Lakeshore

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If your event doesn't start right away?

Join the "waiting room”

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What is the waiting room?

• When students are at Lakeshore and are NOT practicing events or engaged in another school activity (watching a B-Ball game, yearbook club , musical practice etc.), they are expected to be in our "waiting room".
• The waiting room is Mrs. Jaeger or Mr. Mihalek's classroom were kids "hang out” before or in between practices.
• There is no requirement to wait at Lakeshore.

6

Is the waiting room supervised?

• The short answer is yes.
• The long answer is that we expect science olympiad students to be kind, respectful, responsible, and behave in a safe manner. There is an adult “in charge”of the waiting room, but that adult is not tethered to the room. They may be setting up for an event, making copies, getting something from the office etc.
• Parents need to discuss with their children is they are allowed to walk to Taco Bell or Panera. As it is not required to wait at Lakeshore we won't know who is waiting with us until they arrive.

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What do kids do at practice?

Events are divided into 2 main types

• "Brainy” event practices are a lot like a science class. Some of these events have specific lab skills that need to be learned, others are more content driven. The kids will want to have a folder, notebook, or binder to keep the information organized.
• "Techy” event practices focus on building the device to the specs that are outlined in the rules.

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Can any kid join any event?

YES with a "but”for safety.

• "Brainy” events have no limits to the number of participants. If your interests and your families schedule allows you to join an event, we will take you!
• "Techy” events require sharp objects and some require power tools. To keep everyone safe, the numbers are limited. We ask kids to rank which of the techy events they most want to participate in. Depending on the over number of kids, your child should be able to do their 1st choice or 2nd choice or both.

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How do you know which events you "got into”?

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All of the "brainy”events all you have to do to "get into them”is to register for them.

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"Techy” events will have a class list emailed to you before the first practice. Plan that you will get into at least your first or second choice.

If you already have building schools, please make a comment in the anything else we should know question.

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The practice calendar:

• Brainy practices begin on Monday Nov. 28
• Flight begins on Wed Nov 30
• They will run through December 19
• There will be no practice until school resumes.
• Practices begin again on Monday Jan. 9
• February 3rd and 4th: Our intramural SO competition between the grades. "BLUE AND GOLD”

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The practice calendar:

• February 25: Allendale Falcon invitational at Allendale Middle School.
• Everyone continues to practice until March 3 when the competition team is announced.
• March 4 - March 17, competitors and designated alternates attend practices.

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The practice calendar:

• Saturday March 18th: REGIONAL TOURNAMENT at GVSU
• All students who have been participating in science olympiad are invited to spend the day with the team at GVSU. Unfortunately only 30 kids can compete.
• There will be a team room and parents and family members are also invited to meet us there.
• The weekend practices (Bridges, Sound of Music Build, Wheeled Vehicle, Storm the Castle and Roller Coaster) will begin on

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The practice calendar:

• This will be the end of the exploratory season.
• Students who have been invited to be members of the state competition team will continue practicing and travel to MSU for the state tournament on April 22 and potentially travel to Kansas to the national tournament on May 20th.

How does the science olympiad tournament work?

Competitions are AWESOME!!!!….

Tournaments are family events

Tournaments are social events

Tournaments have all the elements of a party: Food and Friends

Tournaments celebrate the hard work the kids have put in.

Science Olympiad competitions are like academic track meets, where a students can earn medals in their events, and their scores are combined to make a team score.

Science olympiad limits the number of students competing on one team to 15 students.

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Most of the 23 events require a partners,

a few allow groups of 3.

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Lakeshore and White Pines both have teams of 15.

Science olympiad is a NATIONAL organization with schools participating in science olympiad in every state.

In the United States there is no required school structure.

Around the nation, there are intermediate school, middle school, and junior highs with several possible grade level configurations including junior highs that have 9th graders. Because of this… we have what we call

"THE RULE"

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"THE RULE"

Is an attempt to help schools without 9th graders be competitive against schools with 9th grade.

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The “RULE”

White Pines: 6th/7th grade

Can use a maximum of five (5), 7th grade students on the 15 member team.

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Lakeshore: 8th/9th grade

Can use a maximum of five (5), 9th grade students on the 15 member team.

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A team may have up to fifteen (15) members. A maximum of five (5) 9th grade students is permitted on a Division B team. Because middle schools that do not have grades 7, 8 or 9 are at a slight disadvantage, they may invite any combination of up to five (5) of their last year's 6th, 7th or 8th grade students to be part of the team.

The Teams

White Pines

*All 6th Grade Students

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*7th Grade Students that attended White Pines as 6th Grade Students.

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Head Coach: Mr. Jaeger

Lakeshore

*7th Grade Students that did not attend White Pines as 6th Graders.

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*All 8th Grade Students

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*All 9th Grade Students that attended Lakeshore

Head Coach: Mrs. Jaeger

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Tournaments are FULL DAY EVENTS!!!

Each event will have a time slot where the kids take a test or demonstrate the device they made.

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With 23 events, some events must happen at the same time. A person can only participate in one event during a time.

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Events with the same color conflict, tech events pick their time.

These events are self scheduled.

We don't know the conflicts until they allow us to schedule.

Bridge

Flight

Roller Coaster

Storm the Castle

Wheeled Vehicle

TEAM SELECTION IS A PUZZLE

Best at

the

event

No conflict

Able to

use in another event

Good

partner

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How do we decide who gets invited to join the competitive team?

• Performance during the exploratory season
• Performance at invitationals
• Ability to work with others
• Ability to follow directions
• Integrity
• Ease of scheduling

How do we decide who gets invited to join the competitive team?

• The White Pines team will have at least TEN 6th graders and up to FIVE 7th graders.

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• The Lakeshore team will have at least TEN new 7th graders and 8th graders and up to FIVE 9th graders.

REMEMBER

We welcome everyone who is interested in learning more about science and spending time with people who want to do the same.

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HOWEVER, IF YOU WANT TO COMPETE IN THE REGIONAL AND STATE TOURNAMENT Consider the following slide

How do I make the team?

Event Selection:

We can’t clone you - events can’t conflict

Choose at least 3 non conflicting events

Attendance

Be there - physically and mentally

Performance:

Stand out in your events, have integrity

Contributions

Make yourself needed, be respectful, be kind

How do I sign up?

1. Online Signup: www.ghmsso.info

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2) Turn Participation Fee Lakeshore or WP office:�

*Please put in envelope labeled with your child’s name and “science olympiad”

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*Participation fee is $85 for the exploratory season

*Why a fee? *Cost of Materials *Cost of T-Shirts *Team registrations *Etc

(Scholarships available if needed)

Competitive team has additional fees due to travel.

Communication

Website:

http://ghmsso.info

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Twitter:

@ghmsso

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Remind:

Text: # 81010

Message: @ghmsso23�

WELCOME to The 2023 Science Olympiad Season