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Hello and welcome to the home page for the WESO activity at Thurston Elementary School in beautiful Ann Arbor, MI!

Announcements

WESO is back for 2024!

• In-person tournament on Saturday, April 20, 2024 at Pioneer High School

• Open to all Thurston students in Grades 2 - 5

• Check out this link for the WESO2024 events list, brief descriptions and grade-wise eligibility 

• Please sign up for email updates from the WESO board here

• Join the Team Thurston 2024 GroupMe to receive notifications on your phone/tablet. 

Tournament day information

1. Parent meeting

   • When: Wed, Apr 17, 7 - 8 pm

   • Where:  Online on Zoom( https://umich.zoom.us/j/4281731571 )

   • What to expect?  Tournament day logistics, timing, Q&A, etc.

2. Parking pass

   • Parking passes are required for tournament day parking at Pioneer High this year.

   • Please print this parking pass and have it displayed prominently in your vehicle.

3. Snacks 

   • If you would like to bring snacks or drinks for sharing with TeamThurston at the tournament, please sign up using this link

4. Event day volunteers 

   • WESO will contact you directly for your event day assignments.

   • Please check this link for your assignment times.

   • Plan to check-in for your assignment at least 10 minutes before your shift starts.

5. Tournament logistics

   • WESO has shared a tournament guide for this year's event.

   • Have questions? Please attend the parent meeting (see item 1 above) to get these answered.

6.  Slides from the  parent meeting on 4/17/24. (new!)

Go TeamThurston! Go Herons!!

Important dates 

7. Nov 8: Returning families information session

8. Nov 15: New families information session

9. Dec 11: TeamThurston registration opens

10. Dec 13: Registration office hours - get help with your registration questions. Zoom, 7-8 pm.

11. Jan 16 - 25: WESO event coach mandatory training 

12. Feb 7: TeamThurston parent meeting (online via Zoom)

13. Apr 20: Tournament day!

Older announcements

 Returning TeamThurston families information session 

When:  7-8 pm, Wednesday, Nov 8, 2023

Where: Virtual event on Zoom  

What to expect:  an overview of the WESO2024 event, Q&A.

Slides from  this meeting can be accessed here.

New TeamThurston families information session 

When: 7 - 8 pm, Wednesday, Nov 15, 2023

Where: In-person at the Thurston  library

What to expect:  Information about WESO, how to register your child for WESO2024, timeline of activities, Q&A.

SLIDES from meeting  can be accessed here. 

Registration for Team Thurston is now closed! 

Thank you all for registering to be a part of TeamThurston! We received a record-breaking number of registrations this year.

If you missed the registration, but are still interested in joining TeamThurston for WESO 2024 please email us.

Team assignments will be announced when we get back from the holiday break.

Happy Holidays!!

WESO training for event coaches 

Parents and guardians who have volunteered to coach their child's team, please plan on attending the WESO training for the event that you are coaching.

These training sessions will cover what you need to know to coach your child's team. 

The schedule for these meetings is linked here.

The meetings will be held online this year. Zoom links will be posted on the WESO calendar.

AAPS background check form

Who needs to submit this?

If you meet both criteria below, please access the form here.  

13. • You are an adult who is coaching at least one TeamThurston member, who is not your child or ward, for a WESO24 event, and

    • You don't have this form filed with the Thurston Main Office for the 2023-24 academic year.

How should it be submitted? 

13. • Email the signed form as a pdf file to Ms. Delp.

    • Use the following format for the name of the file e.g. G4_HHeron_AAPS.pdf for the parent of a child named H. Heron from grade 4.

TeamThurston Parent Meeting 

14. When?  Wed, Feb 7, 7-8 pm

15. Where?  Virtual, on Zoom

16. What to expect?

·         Team check-ins (event descriptions, parent connections, equipment, safety reminders, AAPS space reservations, etc.)

·         WESO updates (T-Shirt info & background checks)

·         Tournament day information (logistics, volunteers, raffle Basket)

17. Slides from the meeting (new!)

About the 2024 WESO tournament

WESO 2024 will feature 11 in-person events for Grades 2 - 5. A brief description of this year's events can be found here.

The Thurston WESO Head Coaches

Laurie Buis

Nilesh Mankame

Emily Peterson

 Contact us

About WESO @ Thurston

This Science Olympiad is organized by the Washtenaw Elementary Science Olympiad (WESO), and coached by parent volunteers. 

The Science Olympiad provides students in grades 2-5 with the opportunity to enhance their science expertise.  It is an amazing experience, and students learn that science can be fun and exciting.  Team Thurston takes great pride in demonstrating team spirit, and sportsmanship, which are qualities beneficial throughout life. 

Thurston WESO is solely run and operated by parent volunteers. Teams are only composed if a parent is willing to coach.  Coaches are encouraged to attend coach workshops, network with other coaches, and sign up to follow WESO via email in order to help prepare for the competition.  

Students select a topic of interest, and commit to approx. one hour each week (late January through mid-May) learning the curriculum in a fun, cooperative,  and hands on approach.   Weekly practices begin in late January, and lead up to the annual competition in May.

Want to know more? Please contact us, the head coaches, and one of us will be happy to discuss this with you.