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ESO 1999
What is ESO?General Description
Olympiad History
Further Details
ESO at JHS Overview
Starting Your Own
ESO in theClassroom
Events
Study Sites
ESO at JHS
SO Links
The Flip Side|
The Ingredients In order for any for any new Elementary Science Olympiad competition to succeed, three ingredients are essential... A Willing Support Staff and Financial Backing The Funds Before you can even consider recruiting participants or lining up volunteers, you've got to have some way to pay for the competition. An Elementary Science Olympiad can be a costly endeavor, but there are a number of ways to present the competition in a cost-effective manner. The following budget proposal for an average ESO competition of 20 events for 9-12 teams each with 20 participants exhibits the general expense of an Olympiad. A description of each element follows.
The ESO at Jacksonville High School presents its competition free of charge to participating schools to help limit financial barriers from preventing the schools' participation. Therefore, this budget assumes no entry fee for participants and furthermore provides for the majority of the other participant event materials. Looking at each item individually... it is obvious that ESO manuals are essential to the competition. Each includes over 80 possible events and instructions as well as helpful hints for organizers. Each participanting school will need a copy, plus Olympiad organizers will want a few copies of their own. The manual is updated approximately every 3-4 years, therefore this expense will decrease following the initial year of competition. Olympiad awards clearly take the largest chunk of the ESO budget. Certificates, medals, and trophies, however, are certainly a necessity in a competition and are invaluable keepsakes for the participants. All participants should receive a certificate, regardless of if they win any medals during the competition. Certificates can be printed for a small fee in your area. For an average Olympiad, the top three finishers in each event should receive a medal (Note that each team member from the top three finishing teams in the event should receive a medal, i.e. each of the 4 students on the first place Pentathlon team should receive a gold medal). Gold, silver, and bronze medals with the Science Olympiad logo imprinted on the front and hung on the appropriate color ribbon (blue, red, and white) are available from Science Olympiad headquarters. Trophies are also available from SO. It is our belief that the Science Olympiad medals are more formal and better keepsakes for individual winners, therefore we advocate the use of the official medals. Trophies, however, are another story. They run $50 apiece from Science Olympiad. Figuring that these are more likely to gather dust on the winning schools trophy case, the $50 price seems a bit stiff. Thus, for trophies we recommend using a much more inexpensive local trophy maker. Of course, as a cost-saving measure, you may also elect to use medals and/or ribbons produced locally for a substanially lower cost. Event materials, paper, and postage represent the remaining costs. The Support Staff The Elementary Science Olympiad manual includes event instructions and helpful organizational tips. However, the majority of work is left to the Olympiad staff. Event design, such as the development of tests and material collection and preparation, is the responsibility of the individual Olympiad. Therefore, a staff of willing volunteers is yet another Olympiad essential. A varying amount of preparation is required for each event chosen from the ESO manual in addition to the administration and supervision of each event during the actual competition. The ESO at Jacksonville High School employs high school student volunteers to accomplish these tasks. Thus, the range of people available for these jobs is quite large. It is advisable to assign two volunteers per event, however volunteers may tackle more than one event at a time (3 or 4 is not unlikely). As an estimate, you will probably want to have as many volunteers as you have events. Additional volunteers may also be required on the day of the competition to assist teams, sell items, and tally results. The actions of your support staff will overwhelmingly determine the success of the Olympiad. Participating Schools Once you've secured physical and financial support, recruiting participating teams becomes the priority. The Elementary Science Olympiad A-2 division is designed for students in grades 3, 4, 5, and 6. We recommend selecting 2-3 of these grades for your Olympiad. The range should be representative of the schools in your area (thus grades 3-5 or 4-5 for an area with elementary schools of grades K-5 and middle schools of grades 6-8). After determining the grade levels, you should select the region, area, or school systems from which you wish to recruit participants. An enthusiastic letter describing the Elementary Science Olympiad program, a brief description of how your competition will work, and a list of the events chosen should most likely be included. (The ESO at Jacksonville High School's participant mailing will be available online this fall at http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~ddp0223/details.html .) These letters should be mailed to potential participants approximately 5-6 months before the competition date. We also recommend organizing a brief Olympiad workshop about a month after the mailing for potential participants. Interested coaches/schools may attend this workshop to gain a better understanding of the Olympiad before making their decision. The workshop allows organizers to demonstrate many of the exciting aspects of the Olympiad to further entice participants. Then What? Now that you've got the money, a willing staff, and eager participants, it's time to get things in gear. Coming soon... organizational tips from the ESO at Jacksonville High School staff with plenty of experience in organizing successful Olympiads including an in-depth look at event preparation and supervision and competition administration to help you make your Elementary Science Olympiad the best ever. In the meantime, check out the specifics on previous ESO competitions at Jacksonville High School and take a look at some ESO events in the Event Archive.
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Florida State University / Jacksonville High School, 1997.