Coaches Letter for Registration at Golden West College
High School (Division C)

Please read all of this letter.  It contains important instructions for registration at Golden West College for  Regional Science Olympiad 2012
January, 2012

Dear Coaches,

On behalf of Golden West College, I would like to welcome you in advance to this year's Science Olympiad competition, which will take place on Friday, March 2, 2012.  We are pleased to have the opportunity to host this event, and we hope that you will enjoy our facility.

There is a map of campus included on the website where you will register (more later in the letter).  Please plan to park in the lot off Golden West Street, on the west side of the campus.  Busses should unload at the entrance to campus located just south of the Automotive/Diesel building.  The drivers should then proceed to the far north part of the lot (near the tennis courts) to park for the day.  Participants arriving in cars may park anywhere north of the former Public Safety building in the west lot.  No parking permits will be needed on that day for the north portion of the lot (near the tennis courts), but anyone parking south of the Public Safety building may be ticketed.  If you do get a ticket in error, please proceed immediately (and calmly!) to Public Safety (now located on campus, just south of the math/Science building), and the clerks will assist you!

Registration for students on the day of the Olympiad will take place from 8:00 – 9:00 AM at the south end of the gymnasium.  Tables for the students to register will be located outside, while coaches and parents should proceed inside to get their packets/volunteer assignments (and coffee or tea!).  Events will start at 9:10 AM.

==========  Important ===================== Important =========

Each student may compete in a maximum of 4 events (excluding Science Bowl).  If we find a student who has competed in more than four events when we check the lists at the end of the day, your team will be disqualified from all events in which that student competed.  Please ask your students to bring their school photo identificationwith verification of grade level on the day of the competition in order to verify their identity at registration, and at each event.  Students must sign in at registration, show their identification, and receive a wristband.  They will also be expected to show their identification and their wristband at each event.  Without an ID card, they may not be able to compete.

==========  Important ===================== Important =========

You are welcome to set up your "headquarters" anywhere on campus.  There are plenty of green areas and benches for your use, and the Student Center is available for you to use as well.  If there is rain on March 2, we will advise you of rooms on campus that can be used for shelter when you register.

Food service is available in the cafe adjacent to the Student Center.  Breakfast items are served, and a salad bar, pizzeria, deli, and grill are all available for lunch.  It opens at 7:45 AM and closes for all purchases at 1:30 PM.   Feel free to bring your lunches and snacks if you wish. Coffee and tea will be available for the adults (coaches plus parents) at the registration area until 10:30 AM. 

 Registration on the website:  Registration for our site this year will again be done on the Golden West College website, www.goldenwestcollege.edu/scienceolympiad  (this address is case sensitive).  This website will be completely corrected for this year on February 1, but registration cannot be attempted till Monday, February 13, at 8 am.  Registration will continue till Wednesday, February 22 at 4 pm.

This year you will again be able to go in and edit your registration until the close of the registration process on Wednesday, 2/22/11 at 4 pm.  When you register, be sure to write down your registration number and password so that you can get back in to edit any changes.  You must have a minimum of 10 events entered by your team.  A maximum of seven 12th graders can be registered for a Division C team.

You must submit your registration sheet between the dates of February ** and February ** (by 4 PM).  Please try not to wait till the last minute.

 We will schedule the building events in advance IF YOU SEND AN EMAIL TO DR. GRIMES AT GWC BY WEDNESDAY, February 22, at 4 PM (cgrimes@gwc.cccd.edu ).   List all times that your students are available for a particular event (not just their preferred times, although you can indicate that, but all times!)   If you don’t do this, your students will have to sign up for a time slot the morning of the Olympiad.  Signup sheets will be available on the door of the room where the event will be held.  We hope to make this signup available online next year, but will stick with this mode for 2012.

If you give me the scheduling information, I will return the event list to you prior to March 2.  It will also be provided in your coaches’ packet on the day of the Olympiad.  We will also provide assignments for parent volunteers ahead of time. 

We regret that we cannot accommodate changes of event times.  Please structure your team so that the students can compete at the proper event time (odd or even). 

All building projects must have a school name written on them.  They should be left at the testing site until 2:30, in case there is a grievance that needs to be resolved, then picked up.  If they are not picked up by 3 pm, points will be deducted from the team total.  Please do not leave these for us to dispose of.

We hope that pre-scheduling events will alleviate a certain amount of stress for the coaches and teams. If there are any changes of rooms, an announcement will be posted on the website, and you will also be notified at check-in.  Changes in student participants made after February 22 will be accepted only if the original student is ill or there is some other documented emergency.  The Change of Participant form is available online in case this happens, and any such change requires 2 copies of the form.  One copy is to be approved at registration, and the other should be brought to the competition by the student.  Please list only one change on a page.

The time between the end of the competitions and the start of the awards (roughly 2:30 – 4:30) will be used for a “Science Bowl” competition (run like the former College Bowl competitions).  Each school will need a team of 4 students (only one team per school), so please make your assignments ahead of time.  Please note that no food or drink (especially gum!) is allowed inside the Forum I facility (building 12) where the Science Bowl and the awards will take place.  Coaches – please make sure that someone enforces this rule for your team. 

For emergencies on the day of the competition, please call the office of the Dean at 714-892-7711, Ext. 58990, as I will not be in my office to receive either voicemail or email. 

We are eagerly anticipating your participation on March 2.  GWC loves doing Science Olympiad, and look forward to making it a great day for everyone.  Let’s hope for good weather, and a fun day for everyone!    

Sincerely,

Carol J. Grimes, Ph.D.
Professor of Chemistry, Emerita
Golden West College