All students MUST set up their posters at Sleepy Hollow HS on Friday, March 3 between 4:30pm and 8:00pm in order to be eligible to present at WESEF. If the poster is not set up and checked in by 8:00pm on Friday, March 3, the student will not be allowed to present on Saturday.

**Maelia will be heading over to Sleepy Hollow at 2:00pm. If you come to help setup then, you will be allowed to setup your poster early (before the rush) and leave earlier.**

• Failure to have board set up off and set-up for final inspection by this time will result in a disqualification.
• There should be no mention of the research institution or the mentor anywhere on the poster.
• All aspects of the display must be completely assembled with title, slides, and any additional materials/ props that will appear on the table. All materials, other than laptops, will remain in place from Friday, March 3rd through Saturday, March 4th (4:30pm)
• New rule: Abstracts of any type are NOT allowed. No form of the abstract should be on the table, the poster or handed out in any way.

 
●     New set up procedure on Friday, March 3rd: In attempt to expedite the check-in process, students will no longer be required to have their poster previewed at the registration table. Students will:
 o    provide their name and school and then be given their Fair-ID# and where to set up their poster.
o   set up their display (poster) and then fill out and turn in our new “Check-Out Participation Waiver”. This document serves to confirm participation, issue a statement of ethics, and requires a self-check for violations (i.e. school, mentor, institution names and abstracts are NOT allowed on the poster or any part of the exhibit.  Failure to submit this simple document will make student ineligible for any awards. In the event that someone is dropping the board off for the student, that individual assumes responsibility for submitting the Participation Waiver after setting up the project.

●     Parking at Sleepy Hollow is very, very limited. There are over 300 judges at WESEF and the judges arrive 1 hour before the students. Therefore there will be very, very few parking spaces available for students. We urge students to carpool or be dropped off.
●     Students should arrive between 8:45am – 9:15am. While students can wait inside the lobby starting at 8:45, they will not be allowed in the gym until 9:15. Any student not at their poster when the judging starts at 10:00 will be disqualified from participating
●     Wi-Fi at WESEF: There will NOT be any Wi-Fi access at Sleepy Hollow HS.
●     Movie: In an effort to keep the judging areas free from excess noise, the WESEF committee will be showing a movie in the auditorium from 1:00-3:00.  
○   If a student has been judged 5 times by 1:00 they should go to the auditorium. At 3:00 all students will return to their posters for the public open house.
○   Food and drinks will not be allowed in the auditorium.
○     Students that do not stay at their poster for the duration of the public open house 3:00-4:30pm will not be eligible for any award. The original end time for this said 4:00, but that was incorrect.
●     Posterboard/display takedown: 4:30 – 5:00
○     Poster and all materials must be removed from the gym but you are able to leave your poster in the lobby until after the awards ceremony.
○     Any materials that are left at Sleepy Hollow HS overnight will be disposed of.

 
●     Awards ceremony: 7:00-9:00pm
○     2017 awards ceremony will be held in the gymnasium to allow for significantly (p<.05) more people than the auditorium.
○     Parents, siblings, friends, are welcome at the awards ceremony but must sit in the bleachers and leave all floor seats for the students, teachers and sponsors.

Saturday, February 4, 2017 
(Snow date Feb.5)
8:00 AM – 4:00 PM 
John Jay High School, Cross River, NY

8:00 AM – 8:30 AM School and Teacher Registration – John Jay Hallway (near main entrance)

• Students should set up poster/upload ppt presentations immediately following registration
• Light breakfast will be provided for students, teachers and judges near cafeteria
• Judge Registration Room C-113 
• Coffee and tea will be provided for teachers and judges in room C-113

8:30 AM – 8:45 AM Welcome and Instructions for Students - Auditorium
8:30 AM – 8:45 AM Moderator Meeting – Room C-114
8:30 AM -- 8:45 AM Judges of Speaker Sessions Meeting — Room C-113
8:30 AM -- 8:45 AM Orientation for Judges of Poster Competitions — Room C-108

Speaker Sessions 
9:00 AM – 12:50 PM Student Speaker Presentations (concurrent sessions, rooms TBA)

• Students may only move/change rooms at a break.

 Competitive Poster Sessions 
9:00 AM – 12:45 PM

• Session 1 Cafeteria/Cafeteria Lobby
• Session 2 Library/Library Lobby/N Classrooms

Lunch 

12:50 PM – 2:00 PM Cafeteria

• Display Poster Session

1 PM — 2:30 PM Display Posters in library

Awards 
3:15 PM Awards for posters and speakers - Auditorium (Time Approximate)

Somers Science Research 2016-2017 OneNote
​somersschools-my.sharepoint.com/personal/wmaelia_somersschools_org/Documents/Class Notebooks/Science Research 2016-2017

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!