Science Olympiad: Tournament Logistics
April 20, 2013
Start time: Doors open at 7:45 a.m. Please arrive in the parking lot no sooner than 7:30. The main entrance is near the flagpole. The Pentathlon preview will start promptly at 8:05; one coach and one student from each team should attend.
Parking: Main parking lot is off S. Main Street (student lot). However, any of the parking lots at Pioneer are open for WESO participants. Please do not park in “drop off” areas or circular drives, as this will block fire lanes.
Award Ceremonies, Banners: Due to time constraints at the new venue, there will be no opening ceremony. Banner parades will occur during the award ceremonies. Please assign only two kids to carry your school banner. Award ceremonies will be held in the large gym at 12:00-1:00 p.m. (2nd & 3rd grade) and 5:00-6:00 p.m. (4th and 5th grade).
Homerooms: Instead of homerooms, there will be tables designated for each school in the cafeteria. The cafeteria at Pioneer is huge and has seating for 1000. Please discuss with your team a central meeting place (e.g. main gym or cafeteria). There is also seating outside of the cafeteria behind the building if the weather is nice.
Large gym: There will be a covering on the floor to help protect the wooden gym flooring. This covering can tear and thus no running or rough play will be allowed.
Safety: Many areas of Pioneer are off limits to WESO participants and guests. Please stay out of any areas that are taped and marked “Do Not Enter.” Also, for safety reasons, please encourage your students and families to not open any locked exterior doors. We are anticipating over 1500 students, parents, and coaches and will need everyone's cooperation to maintain safety and security throughout the building.
Volunteers: Volunteers should check in at the Volunteer Table (located in the cafeteria) 10 minutes before the start of their shift. They will be told at that time what their specific assignment is.
Food & Drinks: Consumption of all food and drinks will be limited to the cafeteria or outdoors. This rule will be strictly enforced.
Sale of food is the primary fundraiser for WESO. Please refrain from bringing in your own food and purchase items that are available. Pizza, beverages, baked goods, fruit, and samosas will be available for purchase. Food and beverage items will cost $1.00 or $2.00.
Please have families drop off donated baked goods at the cafeteria on Saturday morning.
Event Check-in: For the majority of events, the Academic Check-in will be at the desk to the west, down the hall directly outside, but beyond, the cafeteria. Exceptions are Water Rockets, Pentathlon, and On Target (see below for check-in locations for these).
All students should present to the “Academic Check-in”15 minutes prior to event start time. Only students who are getting ready to compete and approved volunteers will be allowed past this checkpoint. In order to avoid a large crowd at the check-in station, please designate one adult only to escort your team to the area. Once the students have been dropped off, this person should leave the immediate area. Upon completion of the event, students will return to the cafeteria to meet their parents and teammates.
On Target: Check-in at the front of the large gym. The event will be held in the Large gym. Spectators will be allowed. Our restriction is that only one door to gym will be open, to make sure air currents are the same for all teams participation.
Pentathlon: Check in directly at the small gym (table located just inside the building entrance doors). Event preview will occur promptly at 8:05 a.m. Each team may send one coach and a student representative for the preview.
Water Rockets: Check in directly at the soccer field, located next to the track. The most direct path is to exit the school at the rear of the cafeteria for WESO. Walk along the sidewalk and across driveway. Field is to the right (west) of the track.
Back-to-Back Events: Students who have back-to-back events must identify themselves at check-in. Please note we cannot guarantee students traveling to or from the academic area to On Target, Water Rockets, or Pentathlon will make it on time unless there is at least 10 minutes between events.
Raffle: Donated raffle baskets should be dropped off in the cafeteria on Friday evening. Please be sure to submit an “itemization” of items in the basket along with the name of the school.
There will be a variety of gift baskets for raffle during the tournament. Please participate and purchase some tickets!
Open Events: Located in the Cafeteria annex. This year we are excited to again have representatives from Leslie Science and Nature Center. All kids (WESO participants, siblings, friends, etc.) are welcome to participate in Open Events. We hope the students find the events fun and informative.
Process for Concerns/Questions: Any questions or concerns regarding a specific event should bechanneled through head coaches. Head coaches may then submit concerns at the Volunteer desk and an appropriate board member will be contacted. Please remember supervisors have authority over scoring their events, including resolving any ties that may come up. They will answer questions from participants before the event begins. If you (parent or coach) have a concern, do not disrupt an event. Take your concern to your head coach who should direct it to a board member.
All other concerns may be brought directly to any of the board members or to the volunteer table. All Board members will be wearing multi-colored tie-dye t-shirts for easy identification. At any given time, there will be at least one board member in the gym area, another in the cafeteria, and one in the academic hallway. If you can’t find one of us, check at the volunteer table outside the cafeteria- they will have access to our cell phone numbers.
Photography: Please make sure any children not to be photographed are identifiable by a red dot on their name tag. We are excited that there will be a film crew from CTN as well as a reporter from AnnArbor.com. These individuals will be instructed not to photograph or film any children with a red dot on their name tag.
Best wishes to all the teams!
