Coaches,

Happy New Year from the ESO at JHS staff.  Checking the calendar, Olympiad Saturday is fast approaching.  ESO at JHS 2012 is set for Saturday, February 18th, just over a month away!
 
Here are some highlights that you need to be aware of as you continue to get ready for this year's Olympiad.

In this ESO News Update...
+ ESO AT JHS REGISTRATION FEE
+ GROUP ASSIGNMENTS & EVENT SCHEDULE
+ EVENT CHECKLIST ONLINE
+ PROPELLER PROPULSION CLARIFICATION
+ PRE-REGISTRATION
+ FOOD SERVICE & PIZZA ORDERS

ESO AT JHS REGISTRATION FEE
The Elementary Science Olympiad at Jacksonville High School will once again assess a team fee for 2012 to assist us with financing our large competition.

In order to offer a fair fee for teams, both large and small, the fee for competing teams will be computed on a per-participant basis. ESO at JHS will assess $3 per participant fee, paid in one lump amount by each team. Therefore, a team with the maximum of 24 students would owe $72. A team with just 10 students would be charged just $30. This fee will be due on the day of the Olympiad. Cash or check payable to Jacksonville High School. We will provide an invoice by email prior to the Olympiad based on your preregistration documents (tentative team roster) to assist with processing payment.  And, the ESO at JHS staff will have a receipt available upon payment on Olympiad Saturday.

Additional information regarding the ESO at JHS participant fee can be found on the ESO at JHS Registration page.

GROUP ASSIGNMENTS & EVENT SCHEDULE
The ESO at JHS once again will host a large number of schools in 2012.  We are happy to welcome 33 teams to Jacksonville for the competition.  This year we will introduce a 3-group approach to scheduling.  Each team has been assigned to one of the following groups: Newton only, Einstein only, Hubble-Newton, or Hubble-Einstein.  For those of you in Newton only or Einstein only, the schedule will operate much like is has in previous years.  Please be prepared to compete during the appropriate time period (N for Newton or E for Einstein) on the schedule and your students should report to the N or E designated room for events held in multiple rooms. 

For those in the hybrid groups of Hubble-Newton or Hubble-Einstein, your teams will compete in the Hubble designated room (H) in those events with an H room.  Otherwise, you will fall back on the Newton group or Einstein group for all other schedule issues.  Essentially, for most of our test-based events, we will run three classrooms so you will be in the H room.  For our building events and other events with multiple times, you will participate as a Newton or Einstein team as designated. 

By the end of January, you will see room numbers listed on our 2012 ESO at JHS schedule grid along with school maps with event rooms labeled for all groups.  We will also post a special group / room / time grid to help sort all of this out. 

Group assignments and the 2012 ESO at JHS schedule grid (without room numbers) are available online now.
 
EVENT CHECKLIST ONLINE
Our comprehensive ESO at JHS 2012 Event Checklist lists practically all the information you need for each event in one convenient place.  You’ll see the time of each event, the number of participants, materials to bring, and rule clarifications.  Rooms will be added later this month.  Most of the common questions we have received over the years about each event are answered on that page. And, some of the ESO at JHS events are not in the manual but available online in our Event Archive.

PROPELLER PROPULSION CLARIFICATION
As you prepare for Propeller Propulsion, please note the following 2 clarifications that are now being officially issued in addition to those found in the rule clarifications posted earlier this year online.
- Due to the restrictions on building materials, landing wheels (plastic or metal) are not permitted in the design of the plane unless they can be constructed totally of the permitted wood and paper materials.
- Rubber bands must be manually wound prior to launch.  Automatic winders (battery-powered) are not permitted.

PRE-REGISTRATION
Prior to Monday, February 6th, please take a moment to submit your school's tentative team roster and event registration information to us. The info is needed to complete your team's registration for this year's Olympiad. Basically, we need a tentative listing of the students on your team. This roster is flexible and may change up to the morning of the Olympiad. Also, we need to know the events in which your team will be participating to assist in our planning.

Rosters and event registration info must be submitted to us by Monday, February 6th.

FOOD SERVICE & PIZZA ORDERS
The JHS PTO will be running a concession stand at the school on Olympiad day.  Among the items planned will be breakfast-type snacks (muffins, granola bars, fruit, cereal bars, etc), other snacks (donuts, crackers, fruit snacks, etc), along with water and juice bottles in the morning.  Then, after 11:00 am there will be soft drinks and candy available at lunch time to go with the pizza.  Hot dogs, nachos, and chili are new additions to the lunch menu this year.  No candy will be served before lunch so that we can promote a little healthy eating!  All items will be priced between 50 cents and $2.  Of course, you are still welcome to bring a cooler (or three) full of drinks and other snacks for your students and supporters. 

And, then there’s the pizza.  Teams will be able to preorder pizzas for their students in an effort to cut costs for both your students and us.  We will offer pizza delivery from a local pizza chain.  Teams will be able to preorder pizzas for their students in an effort to cut costs for both your students and us. We will be accepting orders beginning in early February so please be thinking about how many pizzas your team may want, if interested. We will not be selling pizza by the slice.  Look for information on ordering pizzas in our next email, which should be sent at the beginning of February.

Good luck in your preparations. We look forward to seeing you and your team next month.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at anytime via our Contact Us page.

Sincerely,
David Peters
Coordinator, ESO at JHS

Last Updated: January 3, 2012.