Here is the information that was given in class about the WSF that is taking place this Saturday, June 4th. You must arrive between 1:00-1:15pm with your poster!
The 2016 Westlake Science Fair is days away, and it will be the biggest ever! We have 469 students from 28 schools and 337 judges! Because the fair has grown so much, there are certain new restrictions (particularly about the awards ceremony), so please be sure to go over these final instructions with students and a parent. ONLY 1 guest per student will be allowed because of limited space! 1. Parents must drop off students and leave immediately! We have 70 more students than last year and parking is extremely limited, so we need all available spaces for judges and volunteers. Encourage parents to carpool when they return for public viewing at 4 p.m., as parking will be even more limited. ONLY 1 guest per student will be allowed because of limited space! 2. Students should eat lunch ahead of time and bring water & snacks. They get 1 water at check-in, and 1 water AFTER tiebreaking. A free catered lunch is for judges, volunteers & teachers only. 3. Students must use the approved sizes for a poster board. The instructions were attached in your original email, but to summarize, the poster board cannot be any larger than 48” x 48” (an optional title board can be added). Any students with a larger board will be disqualified at the door. 4. Judging begins roughly at 2, and each student will be judged 3 times, possibly 4 if tiebreaking is needed. There are no time limits for judging sessions. Ideally each session should last less than 15 minutes, with students talking for roughly 8 minutes uninterrupted, and judges asking questions for roughly 7 minutes. 5. If a student has a very serious issue with a judge, he/she must first contact you by cell phone. If after discussing it, you feel that there truly was a very serious issue, please find me to discuss further. If necessary, we may get another judging for that student. Please understand that all issues can only be resolved on the spot before judging ends, not after the fact. 6. Remind students that they are obligated by your school’s code of conduct to not cheat, meaning be honest about any conflict of interest with a judge. If a student knows the judge or has any other conflict of interest, he/she MUST ask the judge to exchange that rubric and judge someone else. We’re instructing judges to be equally honest. Judges are not preassigned to posters, but are randomly picking up anonymous rubrics by category. Please reinforce this point to preserve the integrity of this fair. 7. We’ll again need the help of every teacher and student to make the changeover of the High School Gym poster competition to the awards ceremony with bleachers and chairs reconfigured as smooth as possible. The students will need to fold their chairs and put them against a wall, so that all teachers and custodians can quickly take away the tables. Then we’ll need everyone’s help to line up the chairs in rows in front of the bleachers once they’re opened. This worked surprisingly well last year, so I’m hoping we’ll be able to do the same again this year. 8. The competition is this Saturday, June 4, 2016, at Westlake High School, 825 Westlake Drive, Thornwood, NY. Student registration is from 1 - 1:30 p.m. Student setup is from 1:30 - 2. Late students will be disqualified. Here’s the revised agenda. All times are approximate: 1:00 - 1:15 Student Registration (Main Lobby) / Judge Registration (Cafeteria Hall) 1:30 - 2:00 Student Setup (M.S. Gym & H.S. Gym) 1:00 - 2:00 Judge Lunch (Cafeteria) 1:45 - 2:00 Judge Orientation (Auditorium) 2:00 - 4:00 Competitive Poster Board Presentations (M.S. Gym & H.S. Gym) Approximate times: 4:00 - 4:45 Tiebreaking Round / Public Viewing (M.S. Gym & H.S. Gym)* 4:45 - 5:00 Cleanup and Removal of Poster Boards (M.S. Gym & H.S. Gym) 5:30 - 7:00 Awards Ceremony (Auditorium by Main Lobby) ONLY 1 guest per student! *Any student not present until the end of tiebreaking is announced may be disqualified. Any questions, please email me, otherwise I’ll see you on Saturday! |