3257 TAMU
College Station, TX 77843-3257
PH: 979-845-7363
FX: 979-845-6077

EMAIL: outreach@science.tamu.edu

Next Event: coming soon Entry Deadline: coming soon

Science Olympiad is a nonprofit organization developed to improve the quality of science education, increase student interest in science, and provide recognition of outstanding achievement in science education by both students and teachers. All of this is done through interscholastic competitions where students in grades K-12 (Texas State only offers programs for grades 6-12) can participate at invitational, local, regional, state, and national level competitions against teams from all 50 states.

State Tournament   Educational Outreach and Women's Programs is proud to host the 2008 Texas Science Olympiad (TSO) for Divisions B & C (grades 6-12). This 2-day event (April 25-26, 2008) will be held on the campus of Texas A&M University with the awards ceremony at the Bryan Civic Auditorium.

Regional Tournaments  All Texas teams are expected to compete at a regional qualifying tournaments to advance to State competition. We are happy to have eight regional hosting competitions. Guidelines for the regional competitions are as follows:

• Each regional will host both a B and C division competition.
• These will be 'open boundary' regional's, so a team may select any of the regional's that are offered.
• Each team must attend one regional to be considered for advancement to the State competition -- they may only attend one regional.
• Practice tournaments (Invitational's) will be encouraged at high school and middle school sites. Invitational's can be at any time, but some Fall competitions will be encouraged. Each team MUST be a paid member of the Texas Science Olympiad to compete at a practice/invitational tournament.
• Registration fee is $180 PER TEAM. This pays the State and National affiliation fees and provides each team with the coach's manual and entry of one 15 member team into one regional competition. Qualifying teams advance to State, with the State winners advancing to Nationals.
• Multiple teams from a school are encouraged to compete at regional competitions. The registration fee for EACH TEAM is $180.
• All teams from the same school must compete at the same regional. All teams from the same school will also compete at the same time period for each event (all have odd or all have even team numbers if teams assigned to odd/even time periods).
• 30 schools per division will advance from regionals to State competition. Two (2) international slots will also be available on a non-competitive basis.
• The top 2 schools at each regional will automatically advance to state level competition.
• Remaining slots for state will be filled on a basis of percentage of schools registered (say, 1/5 of schools from each regional will advance to state, with a minimum of the top 2 advancing).
• No more than 1 team from the same school may advance to State competition.

Registration On-line Registration begins October 2, 2007 and ends January 3, 2008. After registering on-line you will receive a registration receipt that explains the methods of payment (cash, check, or money order) payable to 'Texas Science Olympiad' due within 15 business days of submitting your on-line registration.

• Teams will select Regional location (based on space available) during registration. The on-line registration form shows slots remaining at each regional.
• Once a regional is filled, it will no longer appear on the on-line registration form.
• All regional's will be held in the spring, before April 1, 2008. The tentative dates and locations of regional's can be found in the links column to the left.
• Once a team's registration is received and a regional slot allocated, changes will be allowed only in very exceptional circumstances, which will be judged by the State Executive Committee. An additional $60 is required of all teams that are granted a change of regional.
• Late registrations may result in a late fee.

TSO Team Information   Each qualifying school is eligible to have one team of up to 15 team members participate in the state competition. A team may participate in 23 of the 28 events within its division, but may only enter an event one time.

For Division B, a maximum of five ninth graders and for Division C, a maximum of seven twelfth graders on a team is permitted. Middle schools may invite five of their last year's eighth grade students to be part of the team.

If a school fields multiple teams, students may not cross-over from one team to the other. Disqualification in those events will occur if an ineligible student participates.

TSO Program Objectives   The Science Olympiad tournaments are rigorous academic interscholastic competitions that consist of a series of individual and team events which students (grades 6-12) prepare for during the year. The competitions follow the format of popular board games, TV shows and athletic games. These challenging and motivational events are well balanced between the various science and engineering disciplines of biology, earth science, chemistry, physics, computers and technology. There is also a balance between events requiring knowledge of facts, concepts, processes, skills and science applications.

TSO Entry Forms and Fees  Each team will pay $180 team registration fee. This will pay the State and National affiliation fees and provide each team with the coach's manual and entry of one 15 member team into one regional competition. Qualifying teams advance to State, with the State winners advancing to Nationals.

TSO Coaching Resources   A Science Olympiad Coaches Manual (the rule booklet) will be mailed to team coach upon receipt of tournament entry form and fee. The Manual may not be copied without the express written permission of Science Olympiad, Inc., except within the school building which holds the membership. Recommended statement to be placed on all printed pages distributed within a school building: "Reproduced for distribution within (school name) by permission of Science Olympiad, Inc."

Texas Science Olympiad Coaches' Clinic: at Texas A&M campus, College Station, TX.

TSO Travel and Accommodations   Travel expenses and transportation to and from Texas A&M University will not be provided nor paid for by the Olympiad. Visit the Travel/Accommodations link on the left to find blocked rooms at hotels and maps to help your travel.

TSO Awards   Trophies will be awarded to the top four Division B (grades 6-9) and C (grades 9-12) school teams compiling the least total points during the Olympiad. Awards will also be given for each event and for best team spirit. Additionally, the 1st place team in each of Divisions B and C will be invited to represent Texas at the National Science Olympiad tournament. A second team in each division may also be invited to participate at National Science Olympiad depending upon total membership numbers.

TSO Code of Ethics   Student participants are expected to compete in tournament events with an honest effort to follow the rules and the spirit of that competition. The goal of competition is to give one's best effort while displaying honesty, integrity and sportsmanship. Students, coaches, parents and guests are expected to display courtesy and respect toward Olympiad officials, other teams, and guests of the Olympiad. Failure to show honesty and/or courtesy by a participant, coach, parent, or guest of the team may result in the disqualification of the team from that event, the entire tournament or future tournaments.

TSO Website   We encourage you to check the TSO website often for the latest information on Event Descriptions and Clarifications, Travel and Accommodations, Schedules and any changes to the tournament.