Coaches' First Memo

NEBRASKA SCIENCE OLYMPIAD 2023-2024

We are excited to have our tournament on Saturday, April 27!

Date of Nebraska Science Olympiad Tournament: Saturday, April 27, 2024

Location:  East Campus, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Tentative Schedule of Events:   Registration                7:00 a.m.-7:45 a.m.

                                                Opening Ceremony   7:45 a.m.-8:15 a.m.

                                                Impound                8:15 a.m.-8:35 a.m.       

                                                Competition:           8:35 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

                                                Awards Ceremony     5:00 p.m. (hopefully)

RULES INFO: The rules are available electronically.  Access the rules at soinc.org.  Registration with the national and state are required for access to all tournaments. 

National Science Olympiad and Nebraska Membership Fees:

Teams must be national and state members to use the new rules and participate in regional and state tournaments.  The national fee is now $75.00.  Nebraska Science Olympiad will have a membership fee of $25 for this year with the expectation that this fee will increase next year.  The total fee is $100.00 for the first team. A first team is defined as the main competition team, fifteen students or less, from one school in one of the two divisions (B division middle school- C division high school).  If a school wishes to enter two teams at an invitational tournament in one of the divisions, they will need to register a second team with the state for the cost of the national membership fee, $75.00.  You will need to send a separate registration form for each team.

How to register:   SEE REGISTRATION FORM

Please send your registration and fee to: Make check payable to Nebraska Science Olympiad

          Nebraska Science Olympiad

          c/o Susan Hester

          403 Dennis Drive

          Bellevue, NE 68005-3340

2023-2024 SCIENCE OLYMPIAD EVENTS

Division B:  Middle School                                                      Division C:  High School

Air Trajectory         Fossils                               Air Trajectory         Forensics

Anatomy & Phys  Meteorology                      Anatomy & Phys  Forestry

Can’t Judge Powder  Microbe Mission            Astronomy             Fossils

Codebusters         Optics                                 Chem Lab              Geo Mapping

Crime Busters       Reach Stars                      Codebusters         Microbe Mission

Disease Detect     Road Scholar                   Detector Build      Optics

Dynamic Planet    Roller Coaster                   Disease Detect     Robot Tour

Ecology                  Tower                                 Dynamic Planet    Scrambler

Ex Design             Wheeled Vehicle             Ecology                  Tower

Fast Facts             Wind Power                      Ex Design             Wind Power

Flight                      Write It Do It                      Fermi Questions  Write It Do It

Forestry                                                                  Flight

Points and Awards at the Nebraska State Tournament:  1st thru 6th place medals will be awarded for each event.  1st thru 6th place trophies will be awarded to the Division B and C school teams.  Point totals will be calculated as follows:

1st place = 11 points down to 10 places = 2 points.  A participation point will be given for 11th place and higher to encourage training, involvement, and preparation.  Trial Events are not part of the team scores but medals will be awarded.  Medals will be awarded to the top six (6) teams or the top half of the competitors (e.g., 8 teams competing, 4 places are awarded).

Competition Team Composition at the Nebraska State Tournament:  Each school may enter up to 15 students from the same school per division for their competition team.  Students must be supervised by a teacher/coach.  No teacher/coach may supervise more than one team.  A maximum of five (5) 9th graders are allowed on Division B teams.  Competitors must be students of the membership school.  Middle schools may invite five (5) of their last year’s eighth grade students to be part of a team.  Division C teams may have a maximum of seven (7) seniors.

Nebraska State Competition:  A team/school may have only one entry in each event.  Teams may enter as many or as few events as they wish.  An individual student may be entered in a maximum of four (4) competition events (this limit does not include trial events).

Alternates:  Alternate competitors may only compete in trial events at the state tournament.  Trial events will be announced at a later date and sent to registered teams.  Rules for the trial events will be posted and event rules will be sent to registered teams.

Nebraska State Tournament Fee: The state tournament fee will be $5.00 again for all members of the competition team and all alternates.  Teams are asked bring their fees to registration the morning of April 27.  Checks must be made payable to the NEBRASKA SCIENCE OLYMPIAD.  Your team may also choose the Invoice Option.  Your school will be sent an invoice due upon receipt.  Any use of invoice requires a team to pay the invoice before proceeding with any registration or competition going forward.

State Tournament Registration:

In early March, all registered teams will receive notification where they should indicate intent to attend the state tournament.  Filling out this form places the team in the list for state competition and opens up the online team registration for the tournament in late March.  The online registration is at nesoinc.org.

Online registration for the state tournament will begin in April 2024, and end on April 25th.  Any roster changes after April 25 will be handled by completing drop/add/change forms during registration from 7:00 a.m.-7:45 a.m. on April 27th at tournament headquarters.  Coaches of registered teams will receive information about the tournament and registration via email.

Invitational Tournaments:  The following dates are subject to change and participation may be limited by the hosts.  Updates will be sent to the coaches of registered teams.

Henry Doorly Zoo Invitational Tournament:  Saturday, February 24, 2024:  Watch the website for details

ESU 10 Regional Tournament @ UNK:  Tuesday, March 12, 2024

This tournament is hosted at the University Nebraska-Kearney.  Contact Dianah Steinbrink for details.  dianah.steinbrink@esu10.org

Brownell Talbot Invitational Tournament: Saturday, March 16:  Registered teams will receive information about the tournament and how to participate.  Registered teams will be contacted with details.

Ogallala Tournament hosted by ESU Sixteen on Tuesday, April 8, 2024.

Invitational Tournament Fees:  To be determined by each tournament.

Contact Information:  Susan Hester, Nebraska Science Olympiad Director

          Susan Hester

          Nebraska Science Olympiad

          403 Dennis Drive

          Bellevue, NE 68005

          Nebraska Science Olympiad email address:  nescienceolympiad@gmail.com

For National Science Olympiad Updates visit:

National Site:  www.soinc.org:  Teams will find study information, rules clarifications, and updates at this site.

Nebraska Science Olympiad is sponsored by:

College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (CASNR)-University of Nebraska

Nebraska Junior Academy of Sciences (NJAS)

Henry Doorly Zoo

ESU 9

ESU 10

ESU Sixteen

COPYRIGHT at 2023 Science Olympiad, Inc.

All Science Olympiad Manuals and Rules are copyrighted and may not be reproduced and may not be used in any competition unless all participating teams are members of Science Olympiad, Inc.  Teams that are members of Science Olympiad, Inc. may copy the event rules for classroom use within the school building.  Each copy must include the following statement: “Reproduced for distribution and use (not for competition) within (insert school name) by permission of Science Olympiad, Inc.”