Final Reminders

Last updated 2/20/20, 11:45PM

Hello again from the GGSO Team! The Golden Gate Science Olympiad tournament is only ten days away, and we’re looking forward to welcoming you next Saturday at Berkeley.

For any last-minute questions or concerns (Friday evening/during the day Saturday), the best person to contact is Martin. He can be reached at 701-781-4538.

Quick Info [share with students]: Because these announcements contain a wealth of information, we have put many of our key details on this webpage in order to give everyone a condensed place to find essential information. This is not meant to be a replacement for the email announcements, so make sure to check these emails first if any clarifying questions come up.

If you haven’t already, please sign up for Remind 101. Remind 101 is how we will communicate with coaches on Saturday, rather than through emails.

Remind 101 service [share with students]: We use this text message Remind service to send out critical day-of updates aimed primarily at coaches, but we encourage any students and parents to sign up to stay updated as well. Phone numbers are kept completely confidential by the website service, we promise not to send any updates after the tournament, and you can opt out at any time. Our Remind101 system code is @a3977ed this year, and you can join by texting @a3977ed to the number 81010.

Team homerooms open by 8:15 a.m. and need to be vacated by 4:30 p.m. To see your homeroom, as well as event locations, please visit this link

Social Media [Share with Students]: We’re online! We’ll be posting fun tournament photos, updates, and live stories throughout the day to our Snapchat (ggscioly) and Instagram (goldengatescioly) accounts, as well as Twitter (@goldengateso). Check us out!

Practice Regulations for Wright Stuff and Gravity Vehicle: The Wright Stuff event supervisor has said that there are no practice times for wright stuff before the first time slot, but students can practice during competition if there are no concurrent flights. However, there will not be practice runs for Gravity Vehicle - so plan accordingly.

Check-in: Check-in begins at 8 a.m. in Kerr Lobby. Bus parking is first-come first-serve at West Circle/Crescent parking (cars cannot park in this lot), and there is also street parking and parking garages all marked on the maps included below.

Event Self Sign up Schedule: We are planning on keeping the event sign-ups open during tournament day. If your team needs to reschedule, please do so directly on Scilympiad BEFORE showing up for that time slot, as the event supervisors can see these changes real-time and make the appropriate accommodations before your team arrives.

Events in Soda Hall: Like with Latimer Hall, Soda Hall (the building for Protein Modeling) will be locked during the day. However, a volunteer will be there to let people in 10 minutes before the event block is scheduled to start to 10 minutes after.

Keynote Speaker: We are also pleased to announce our keynote speaker, Dr. Emily Levesque, an Assistant Teaching Professor of Astronomy at the University of Washington. Her research program is focused on improving our overall understanding of how massive stars evolve and die. She is a 2019 Cottrell Scholar and 2017 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow. In addition to teaching and research, she has written academic books on red supergiants, stellar interiors and evolution, and is currently writing The Last Stargazers, a book on the experiences of astronomical observing. Additionally, we are excited to have our guest speaker, Dr. Dustin Schroeder, an Assistant Professor of Geophysics and Electrical Engineering (by courtesy) at Stanford University. His research focuses on the interplay between subglacial water, continental ice sheets, and sea level rise, especially using geophysical radar remote sensing techniques. He also chairs the National Science Olympiad Earth and Space Science Committee.

Forecast: The weather forecast looks good for competition next Saturday, but be aware that the conditions may change. Please prepare accordingly, especially for events which require the transportation of impound creations. See the weather forecast here for more specific information.

Video: We have an awesome pre-tournament video uploaded here. Please watch and share with students as well!

Wright Stuff dimensions: A rule mandates that all competitors for the event Wright Stuff must be provided with the dimensions of the room in which this event will take place. This room is called the RSF Fieldhouse, and its dimensions are: 180’ X `114’, with a ceiling height of 30’.

Events in Latimer Hall: This year, Latimer Hall (the building for Chem Lab, Experimental Design, Disease Detectives, and Forensics) will be locked during the day. However, a volunteer will be there to let people in 10 minutes before the event block is scheduled to start to 10 minutes after.

Raretea: This year, we are excited to have Raretea be one of our sponsors. On tournament day, stop by Sharetea and say you’re attending the Golden Gate Science Olympiad tournament. 20% of your purchase will go towards GGSO and helping make our tournament happen next year! More information can be found here

Sponsorship Booths: The day schedule (below) includes information about the sponsorship booths in Wheeler Lobby. Stop by to speak with some of the organizations and department sponsoring our tournament this year.

When to arrive: Please also remember that check-in begins at 8 a.m. in Kerr Lobby. We look forward to meeting you then!

Below, please find a reminder of the previous announcement:

Food Regulation Reminder: NO FOOD IS ALLOWED IN HOMEROOMS. We agree that this is a ridiculous and frustrating rule, but Berkeley’s Event Services has alerted us several times that custodians will be on patrol through our reserved areas. Similar student groups have faced fines on the order of $5000 for violating this rule. We’re hoping for great weather on Saturday, so we recommend a nice lunch outside or encourage students to visit any of the many cafes highlighted in the maps on our website. Please consider the homerooms as a place to study and store equipment, but not a place to eat. Custodians will be passing by rooms as well as checking trash cans. No food should be brought back to or disposed of in homerooms.

Unfortunately, we feel obligated to enforce this rule harshly, since a university violation would prevent future GGSO tournaments from being possible (and violating schools may share financial burden of any fines). Teams with food in their homerooms and trash cans face possible point deductions on their score and blacklisting from future GGSO events. We deeply apologize for this inconvenience but hope that it’s not too troublesome.

Morning Check-in: Please check in to receive your coach packet (which includes last-minute information, maps, and student wristbands). Check-in will be run in Kerr Lobby, beginning at 8 a.m.

Campus Map: We have an awesome digital map to aid in directions this year. Find it here or on our website, goldengateso.com. Please share this map with your teams as well. For additional navigation purposes, including walking to home rooms, events, and food locations, we recommend Google Maps. Previous tournament competitors have found this helpful.

Free wifi is available on campus (connect to CalVisitor).

Homerooms: See here to check which homeroom your team has been assigned to–as well as the event locations. These homerooms will open by 8:15am.

Car Parking and Food: Please check for parking at any of the locations in the parking map here Note that some may require a daily fee. Food options we like can be found in this document here Parking and food locations can also be found on our custom digital map.

T-shirts [share with students]: This year, we ordered some extra GGSO t-shirts for competitors! A limited number of shirts will be available for $15 in Wheeler Lobby during the tournament, beginning at 10 a.m. (cash or check only).

Awards ceremony: The awards ceremony will open to teams at 5:30 p.m. in Pauley Ballroom. Due to space constraints, chairs are reserved for competitors only. A seating chart will be provided. The awards ceremony will conclude by 7:30 p.m., when coaches can then pick up tournament exams and score sheets from Tilden in MLK.

Sponsors: Sponsors for the tournament, including our co-host Eureka Therapeutics, will have sponsor booths and tables in Wheeler Lobby throughout the day.

Remind 101 service [share with students]: We use this text message remind service to send out critical day-of updates aimed primarily at coaches, but we encourage any students and parents to sign up to stay updated as well. Phone numbers are kept completely confidential by the website service, we promise not to send any updates after the tournament, and you can opt out at any time. An email at a later date will include the information for Remind101 set-up for coaches and interested students and parents.

Day and event schedule: An event schedule can be found here and a general day schedule for the tournament has been posted online here

Other info: Additional information about the tournament (already included in the coaches packet) can be found here

Phone number: If any issues arise during check-in or during the tournament, please contact Martin at 701-781-4538.

Links
See Quick Info for all the links