Dear Coaches,

Now that Bill and I have started to adjusting to our new normal, we have considered how we plan to move forward for the competition in 2021. As you know, the National organization has chosen to maintain the same events and rules for 2021 as we would have used for 2020. This is great news for all of us – your students have spent much time enriching their knowledge and building their skills. We hope you’ve been enjoying our 2020 Virtual Challenges as a way to engage your students, in classes or Science Olympiad, in these crazy times. We’re excited to see what you’ve learned in the past few months. And, since we know things have been especially crazy for you, we’re extending the deadline a few days – to Friday April 10^th. After that, we’ll start judging and hopefully get the medals in the mail soon. (When we can retrieve them from the building!)

Also, since we can utilize a majority of our materials (and therefore minimize costs!) from the 2020 Science Olympiad, we are also writing to provide an update on finances. For any team who registered for the 2020 Science Olympiad, we will be offering a $110 credit to next year’s registration cost (per team). We understand some schools have been particularly hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and will consider registration waivers for those that apply. An application will be posted on our website before registration opens for 2021.

We appreciate all of the work each of you puts into making Science Olympiad a success, and we are beyond disappointed to have not had the chance to showcase your student’s talents this year. We hope to see you all back for the 2021 Science Olympiad. If there is anything else we can do to make your things easier for you, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Be well,

Nicole and Bill

On March 11th, we received the following statement from the National Organization:

“Uncertainty surrounding the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), the risk of transmission at large indoor gatherings, and multiple cancellations of state tournaments with more expected, has led the Science Olympiad Board along with leadership at North Carolina State University to cancel the 2020 Science Olympiad National Tournament held in Raleigh, NC, scheduled for May 15-16, 2020. According to the CDC, one of the greatest health risks is to the senior adult population, which makes up a significant portion of our teachers, coaches, officials, key personnel and volunteers. While we know this cancellation will be very disappointing to students, coaches, supervisors, and parents after all the hard work that has been put into their season, we must put health and safety first. We encourage teams to look ahead to preparations for next year. Our state leaders will focus on planning events and generating excitement for the upcoming season.”

Considering the decision at the National Level as well as increasing worry about community spread particularly in large gatherings, the New Hampshire Science Olympiad, in partnership with Saint Anselm College, have decided to cancel the 2020 New Hampshire State Tournament. While we deeply regret having to make this decision, we believe it is the most responsible decision to keep your students, our volunteers, and everyone’s family safe.

We understand all of your students have prepared for a very exciting event and have built, studied, and prepared for the last 6 months. It is likely that Science Olympiad 2021 will proceed with the same events as were scheduled for the 2020 Tournament, so all is not lost! Though we understand this provides little consolation to seniors who were looking forward to their final opportunity to participate, we have set the date, and are anxiously looking to next year’s tournament on March 27th, 2021!

In an effort to provide some reward for the work you have all put into your seasons, we plan to hold a virtual set of challenges, based on the work you have been doing. Medals and ribbons will be awarded, in the spirit of our typical competition. The rules for these challenges will be sent in a forthcoming email in the next few days. We hope you enjoy them almost as much as you would have enjoyed the actual competition!

We realize you will have many questions, of which we may not yet have answers. We will be in touch in the coming days and weeks with whatever information we can provide.

A Statement on COVID-19

New Hampshire Science Olympiad is monitoring the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Of course, our first priority is the safety of students and volunteers, so we are following the guidelines of the CDC and the NH DHHS to protect our community, as well as any protocols required by our host institution. We’d like to note the following in particular:

• Anyone who has traveled to a high-risk country, Italy, China, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong or Iran, must stay home and monitor their health for 14 days after returning to the United States.
• Even if you did not travel to a high-risk country, but you have flu-like symptoms, please stay home until you are fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medicine.

We are asking that all teams (and any spectators associated with these teams) and our volunteers follow these guidelines. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide any updates if necessary.