Hello GGSO community,
Golden Gate Science Olympiad will be hosting its 9th annual invitational at UC Berkeley on Saturday, February 22nd, 2025 and we are in need of volunteers!
GGSO, directed entirely by Stanford and Berkeley students, is the West Coast’s premier Science Olympiad invitational and will be hosting nearly 1000 high school students from 60 teams across the country. For those unfamiliar with Science Olympiad, it functions like an academic track meet with 23 different events in all areas of science and engineering, including topics such as astronomy, Earth science, and cryptography. Science Olympiad is the nation’s largest team-based science competition for middle and high school students!
Generally, volunteers assist with grading exams, setting up, monitoring students, and other day-of activities. All volunteers will receive a free GGSO t-shirt, guaranteed transportation to and from Berkeley campus on tournament day (for Stanford students), all-you-can-eat snacks (while supplies last), and free lunch.
No prior Science Olympiad knowledge is required, so sign up here by January 15th, 2025! If you are somebody interested in advancing science education, need volunteer hours, or are just excited to get involved with a fun science competition, we’d love to have you on board.
Links
Sign Up Form
Email Us
Hello GGSO Community,
We are releasing our Event Supervisor/Test Committee (ES/TC) application for the 2025 Golden Gate Invitational! Event Supervisors are responsible for writing the tests and supervising competitors on tournament day, whereas Test Committee members evaluate the test drafts prior to tournament day. These roles are only available to students who have graduated from high school. The link for the application can be found here, and the deadline to apply is October 7th, 2024 at 11:59 PM PT.
If you are interested in being a general volunteer for the tournament (grading tests under the guidance of an event supervisor), we will also be sending out an interest form for that soon. Thank you for your continued interest in running our tournament, and if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out!
Links
Application Form
Email Us
Hi GGSO Community,
We hope you are doing well! We recently announced that our 9th annual Golden Gate Science Olympiad Invitational will take place on Saturday, February 22nd, 2025, and we now have an update on registration details.
Tournament registration will take place on Scilympiad, and it will be open from Saturday, September 28th, 2024 at 12:00PM PDT until Saturday, October 5th, 2024 at 12:00PM PDT. This year, we will be holding registration on a first-come, first-serve basis, with a total of 60 spots available for teams. When registration is open, there will be an initial cap of one team per school and 50 spots available for different schools. If a school would like to register two teams, then its second team will automatically be placed on the waitlist, ordered based on the time at which the first team was registered. Any school that did not register within the first 50 slots will also be added to the waitlist as normal, regardless of whether it has a second team. After registration closes, we will take teams from the waitlist to fill the remaining 10 spots and additional spots that were not filled originally. A registration fee of $305 per team will be due by November 1st, 2024; further payment details and instructions will be sent out in a future update. For more information regarding registration policies, please see our website.
As a reminder, the t-shirt design contest for GGSO 2025 is also officially open. All Science Olympiad community members are invited to submit a design by November 1st, 2024. The winning design will be printed on this season’s t-shirts (plus the winner gets free merch!).
We will send a reminder email with additional details on registration logistics closer to when registration opens. In the meantime, please feel free to email us with any questions or concerns.
Links
Scilympiad
T-shirt design contest
Email Us
Hi GGSO Community,
The 9th annual Division C Golden Gate Science Olympiad Invitational will be hosted in person at UC Berkeley on Saturday, February 22nd, 2025! Registration details will be announced in an upcoming announcement.
As always, we hope to create an unforgettable competition experience for all teams. To help us plan for this season’s invite, please let us know your Awards Ceremony preferences via this form.
The t-shirt design contest for GGSO 2025 is also officially open. All Science Olympiad community members are invited to submit a design by Friday, November 1st, 2024. The winning design will be printed on this season’s t-shirts (plus the winner gets free merch!).
If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to email us at goldengatescioly@gmail.com. We can’t wait to welcome you back to our campus!
Links
Awards Ceremony Preferences
T-shirt design contest
Email Us
Hello GGSO Community,
Tests and keys are now publicly available and can be found here.
Links
Tests and Keys
Hello GGSO Community,
Final scores can be found here.
Thank you to all the teams who participated in our tournament, and we hope to see everyone again next year!
Links
Final Scores
Hello GGSO community,
It’s officially the month of our tournament! In preparation for the 2024 Golden Gate Science Olympiad Invitational on Sunday, February 11th, we would like to share some important tournament logistics.
You can view the coaches packet here. Please review the coaches packet carefully and in its entirety. A summary of its contents is below:
Thank you for reading through all these reminders and updates. As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions at goldengatescioly@gmail.com.
Links
Coaches Packet
Remind Join Site
Homerooms
Event Schedule
Awards Schedule
Parking Map
Campus Map
Digital Map
Food Options
Email Us
Hello GGSO Community,
As we get closer to the tournament, we would like to give some friendly reminders and updates.
Firstly, if you have not done so already, please complete and submit the student release forms. We also require your competitors to fill out these additional forms: liability waiver, photo release form, and consent to treatment of minor form. We will destroy these documents right after the tournament, just in case there is any concern about the information we are gathering. The deadline for all of these forms is January 12th, 2024 along with the release forms on Scilympiad.
Secondly, the event list can be found here. The event schedule with time blocks can be found here. This year, we will follow the Regional rules and hold Cybersecurity as our trial event.
As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.
Links
Liability Waiver
Photo Release Form
Consent to Treatment of Minor Form
Event List
Event Schedule
Hello GGSO Community,
We’re excited to host our 8th annual Golden Gate Invitational on Sunday, February 11th, 2024, and we are now looking for volunteers. Please spread the word to SciOly alumni and/or friends who might want to get involved!
Volunteer requirements:
College/graduate student from Stanford or UC Berkeley. (We are happy to take volunteers not from these universities, but we cannot coordinate or reimburse transportation.)
Available to grade tests in-person at UC Berkeley the weekend of the tournament.
All experience levels are welcome! If you happen to have any Science Olympiad experience, relevant coursework, or knowledge applicable to one of our events, make sure to mention that in your application.
For those interested, the Tournament Volunteer Application will be due January 7th, 2024 at 11:59pm PST. As always, please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.
We also wanted to remind all GGSO community members of our t-shirt design contest; please submit your design by November 1st, 2023 at 11:59pm PDT to enter. Along with having their art featured on this year’s tournament shirt, the winner will receive a free shirt. We can’t wait to see your designs!
If you have any questions, feel free to email us at goldengatescioly@gmail.com.
Links
Volunteer Application
T-shirt Design Contest
Hello GGSO Community,
Our Event Supervisor/Test Committee(ES/TC) application for the upcoming GGSO invitational is now available here! The deadline to apply is October 1st, 2023 at 11:59 PM PDT.
If you are interested in being a general volunteer for the tournament (grading tests under the guidance of an event supervisor), we will also be sending out an interest form for that soon. Thank you for your continued interest in running our tournament, and if you have any questions, feel free to email us at goldengatescioly@gmail.com!
Links
Application Form
Email Us
Hello GGSO Community,
We’re excited to announce that the 8th annual Division C Golden Gate Science Olympiad Invitational will be hosted in-person at UC Berkeley on February 11th, 2024!
We know that the Sunday timing isn’t ideal, but unfortunately, campus availability made this our best option. As always, we hope to create an unforgettable competition experience for all teams. To help us plan for this season’s invite, please let us know your Awards Ceremony preferences via this form.
Tournament registration will open on September 30th, 2023 at 12:00PM PDT via Scilympiad. (For help with registering on Scilympiad, see this step-by-step guide.) Registration will be on a first come, first served basis with up to 2 teams per school and a cap of 60 teams total. A registration fee of $250 per team will be due by November 1st, 2023; further payment details and instructions will be sent out in a future update.
The t-shirt design contest for GGSO 2024 is also officially open. All Science Olympiad community members are invited to submit a design by November 1st, 2023. The winning design will be printed on this season’s t-shirts (plus the winner gets free merch!).
As always, the safety of our competitors is a top priority; any health guidelines or changes to the tournament format will be communicated in the coming months in accordance with UC Berkeley’s campus policies.
If you have any questions, feel free to email us at goldengatescioly@gmail.com. We can’t wait to welcome you back to our campus!
Links
Awards Ceremony Preferences
Scilympiad
Scilympiad Guide
T-shirt design contest
Email Us
Hello GGSO Community,
Tests and keys are now publicly available and can be found here.
Links
Tests and Keys
Hello GGSO Community,
Final scores can be found here.
Thank you to all the teams who participated in our tournament, and we hope to see everyone again next year!
If you have any questions, feel free to email us at goldengatescioly@gmail.com!
Links
Final Scores
Remind 101: Text @ggso2023 to the number 81010.
Check-in: 8 a.m. Kerr Lobby
Coaches Packet: Contains essential information, picked up upon check-in and also found here.
Parking: Check for parking at any of the locations on this map.
Campus Map: Map with buildings highlightedhere. Digital map here.
Event Schedule: Found here.
Event Locations: Found here.
Events in Latimer Hall: Latimer Hall (Chem Lab, Experimental Design, Environmental Chemistry, and Forensics) will be locked during the day. A volunteer will be there to let competitors in 10 minutes before the event block until 10 minutes after it starts.
Tournament Day Schedule: Found here.
Homerooms: Will be open by 8:15am, found under “Team Numbers” here. Please vacate by 4:30pm.
Food Regulations: No food is allowed in homerooms (fine on the order of $5000 by the university).
Food Options: Food options we like can be found in this document.
Wifi: Free wifi is available on campus (connect to CalVisitor).
Sponsorship Booths: Stop by Wheeler Lobby to speak with some of the organizations and departments sponsoring our tournament.
Awards Ceremony: 5:30-7:30pm in Pauley Ballroom. Coachers and competitors only. Pick up tournament exams and score sheets from Tilden in MLK.
Tournament Trailer: Can be watched here.
Social Media: Instagram (@goldengatescioly)
Scavenger Hunt: Look for details on our instagram (@goldengatescioly).
Hello GGSO community,
The 2023 GGSO Invitational is tomorrow, February 11th!
This is our final announcement before tournament day. We have included new information at the top for convenience and reminders from previous announcements below.
If you have any questions, feel free to email us at goldengatescioly@gmail.com!
Links
Email Us
Hello GGSO community,
The 2023 Golden Gate Science Olympiad Invitational is this Saturday, February 11th. We can’t wait to welcome you all to UC Berkeley!
This is one of our last announcements before tournament day (another coming the night before) so please read through the following items carefully.
If you have any questions, feel free to email us at goldengatescioly@gmail.com!
Links
Email Us
Remind
Registration Guide
Tournament Schedule
Coaches Packet
Homerooms
Event Schedule
GGSO Trailer
Parking Map
Campus Map
Digital Map
Food Options
Hello GGSO community,
The Golden Gate Science Olympiad tournament is only eleven days away, and we’re looking forward to welcoming you next Saturday, February 11th at Berkeley.
Please read this carefully, as it contains critical updates on the tournament schedule and day-of logistics.
Remind 101: We use this text message remind service to send out critical day-of updates aimed primarily at coaches. 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 @ggso2023 this year, and you can join by texting @ggso2023 to the number 81010 or signing up with this link.
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 for more specific information.
Day and event schedule: An event schedule can be found here and a general day schedule for the tournament has been posted online here.
Car Parking and Food: Please check for parking at any of the locations in the parking map. Note that some may require a daily fee. Food options we like can be found in this document.
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: Here is the map of campus, with the buildings that competitors will likely need to go to highlighted. We also have a digital map linked here to aid in directions. 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: Homerooms have been updated on this spreadsheet on the tab with the team numbers. These homerooms will open by 8:15am. You can also check where each of the events will take place on the event schedule.
Flight dimensions: A rule mandates that all competitors for the event Flight 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’.
Scrambler details: As mentioned in the rules, the event supervisors are allowed to place the egg in a thin transparent plastic bag. Our event supervisors have decided to do this, so we just wanted to give you all a heads ụp
Events in Latimer Hall: This year, Latimer Hall (the building for Chem Lab, Experimental Design, Environmental Chemistry, and Forensics) will be locked during the day. However, a volunteer will be there to let competitors in 10 minutes before the event block is scheduled to start till 10 minutes after it starts.
Never alone policy: As we have minors on campus, we are following a “never alone” policy. There must never be a minor alone in a room with one adult at any time. Correspondingly, at no point should a minor be forced into a one-on-one situation with a volunteer, a member of our event staff, or other adult. We take our commitment to this policy very seriously. If you see an ongoing violation of this policy, notify headquarters immediately.
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.
Sponsorship Booths: The day schedule (above) includes information about the sponsorship booths in Wheeler Lobby. Stop by to speak with some of the organizations and departments sponsoring our tournament this year.
T-shirts: 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 coaches and competitors only, so no parents or other spectators. Seating will be on a first come first serve basis, and we ask that you do not move any of the chairs. 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.
Other info: Additional information about the tournament can be found in the coaches packet here.
Social Media: We’re online! We’ll be posting fun tournament photos, updates, and live stories throughout the day to our Instagram (@goldengatescioly) account. Check us out!
If you have any questions, feel free to email us at goldengatescioly@gmail.com!
Links
Email Us
Remind
Event Schedule
Tournament Schedule
Parking Map
Food Options
Campus Map
Digital Map
Homerooms
Coaches Packet
Hello GGSO community,
Self-scheduling for Bridge, Flight, Scrambler, Trajectory, and Mission Possible (trial) will open tomorrow, January 18th, at 12PM PT via Scilympiad. Instructions for self-scheduling can be found here.
This is required for your team to compete in any of these 5 events; if your team isn’t competing in an event, there’s no need to self-schedule that event.
If you have any questions, feel free to email us at goldengatescioly@gmail.com!
Links
Email Us
Scilympiad
ESUS Instructions
Hello GGSO community,
Happy New Year! We hope you and your team had a safe and restful winter break.
As we prepare for our invitational next month, we have a few general tournament reminders.
That’s all for now! Thanks for staying on top of these deadlines, and please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions as we approach February 11th.
If you have any questions, feel free to email us at goldengatescioly@gmail.com!
Links
Email Us
T-shirt Orders
Liability Waiver
Photo Release
Treatment Consent
Form Submission
Scilympiad Guide
Event Schedule
Team Numbers
Event Rules
Hello GGSO community,
We wanted to provide some important reminders for deadlines and updates about the tournament.
First, as mentioned before, there are many waivers and forms that need to be completed by January 13, 2023, so please ask the competitors to complete them as soon as they can. These forms include the release waiver on Scilympiad, a liability waiver, a photo release form, and a consent to treatment of minor form. For the photo release form, please distribute it to all minors who plan to attend the tournament in person and have them sign it. We ask that the last three forms from all the competitors be scanned and submitted as one PDF through this Google Form.
Secondly, the event list can be found here. The event schedule along with the time blocks and some room assignments can be found here. We have finalized team numbers as well, so you can access them here. As a reminder, Mission Possible will be our trial event for this season, and we will be following the National level rules. Also, we are modifying Rocks and Minerals to be following National rules as well to provide a unique learning opportunity for the competitors. All other events will be held according to the Regional rules. For your convenience, we have linked the rules here.
Additionally, we are planning to hold ESUS sign ups for the self-scheduled events on January 18th, 2023, so make sure to mark this date on your calendars. These events include Bridge, Flight, Trajectory, Scrambler, and Mission Possible.
Lastly, thank you to everyone who submitted a t-shirt design. We have chosen the design for this year, which you can view on the t-shirt order form. If you would like to order a t-shirt, please submit the order form and payment no later than January 9th, 2023. More information about the t-shirts can be found in the form.
If you have any questions, feel free to email us at goldengatescioly@gmail.com!
Links
Email Us
Liability Waiver
Photo Release
Treatment Consent
Form Submission
Event List
Event Schedule
Team Numbers
Event Rules
T-shirt Orders
Hello GGSO community,
We hope you all are doing well and getting excited for the holiday season! As we get closer to the tournament, we would like to just give some friendly reminders and updates. First, if you have not done so already, please complete and submit the student release forms. We also require that your competitors fill out these additional forms: a liability waiver, a photo release form, and a consent to treatment of minor form. We will be destroying these documents right after the tournament, just in case there is any concern about the information we are gathering. The deadline for all of these forms will be January 13th, 2023 along with the release form on Scilympiad.
Secondly, the event list can be found here. The event schedule along with the time blocks and some room assignments can be found here. This year, we will be holding Mission Possible for our trial event, and we will be following the National rules. Additionally, we will be modifying the Rocks and Minerals event to follow the National rules as well, since we gained access to some resources to make this possible. Keep in mind that we plan to have this portion less than 10% of the exam to make it fair for competitors. The rules are linked here for your convenience.
Lastly, due to some constraints in the building reservations, we will not be able to have spectators for Flight. However, the other build events listed on the event schedule will be open to spectators.
If you have any questions, feel free to email us at goldengatescioly@gmail.com!
Links
Email Us
Liability Waiver
Photo Release
Treatment Consent
Event List
Event Schedule
Event Rules
Hello GGSO community,
This is a general reminder that we are still looking for volunteers for our 7th annual Golden Gate Invitational on February 11th, 2023. The details are below; please share them with fellow Stanford and UC Berkeley students who might be interested!
Volunteer requirements:
For all prospective volunteers, the Tournament Volunteer Application will be due January 6th, 2023 at 11:59pm PDT. Thank you for your time — GGSO wouldn’t be possible without your help!
Also, the deadline for our t-shirt design competition is coming up on November 26, 2022 at 11:59pm PT. Anyone (competitors or non-competitors) can submit designs to this form, and the winner will receive a free shirt!
If you have any questions, feel free to email us at goldengatescioly@gmail.com!
Links
Email Us
Volunteer Form
Hello GGSO community,
We wanted to remind you that the payment and waiver deadline for all teams registered for GGSO is next Tuesday, November 1st unless we’ve made alternate arrangements. If we don’t receive the registration fee and completed waivers by then, we may not be able to guarantee your team’s spot in our tournament. Please see steps 9-11 on our Scilympiad guide for payment instructions and step 13 for waiver instructions.
If this deadline poses an issue for your team, please reach out—we will do our best to find a solution! Let us know if you have any other questions.
If you have any questions, feel free to email us at goldengatescioly@gmail.com!
Links
Email Us
Scilympiad Guide
Golden Gate Science Olympiad is run by Golden Gate Science League, a California 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
Questions? Interested in sponsoring? Joining us as a student at Stanford or UC Berkeley next year? Shoot us an email to get involved with our team!