Resources for Volunteers

From Science Olympiad

Whether you’re looking to become an Event Supervisor or volunteer at a tournament, these pages from Science Olympiad provide detailed guidelines and tips to help you get involved. Event Supervisors play a key role in organizing and running events, while volunteers support the tournament experience in various ways. Understanding your specific role and responsibilities will ensure you’re well-prepared and able to contribute effectively. These links will provide helpful advice on how to be as prepared as possible for your participation.

Writing an Effective Test

This guide provides essential steps for writing an effective Science Olympiad event test, covering everything from understanding the rules and topics to creating clear, challenging questions and formatting the test for quick grading.

Event Supervisor & Volunteer Policies

Each year, we rely on hundreds of volunteers and alumni to ensure our Regional and State Tournaments are both challenging and enjoyable for our competitors. This season, we’re looking to enhance event preparation even further and invite all qualified volunteers to assist with writing tests or proctoring events—please reach out! As an Event Supervisor, you may not be responsible for writing the test yourself, but you will be expected to attend coaches’ orientation or supervisor training sessions before the tournament. Here are some additional requirements and guidelines from Science Olympiad.

All volunteers and Event Supervisors at the local, state and national level must complete this 10-minute online Volunteer Training. All supervisors should be familiar with the Code of Ethics and General Rules and Scoring Policies.

Additionally, Science Olympiad has provided the following guidelines for Event Supervisor roles (which have been slightly modified):

1. Be responsible for conducting the event according to the current Science Olympiad rules as printed in the current manual. Do not assume they are the same as last year—read them carefully.
2. Avoid duplication of specimens or questions that may have been used in previous tournaments to prevent favoritism.
3. Communicate with co-supervisors to determine respective roles.
4. Bring or obtain all materials and questions necessary to conduct the event and coordinate with the co-supervisor.
5. Encourage and challenge students in a professional and friendly manner. Bring judging assistants or ensure you have communicated in writing with the tournament site coordinator about your needs for officials.
6. Answer students’ questions, but do not provide answers or hints that would give any team an unfair advantage.
7. Complete the scoring sheet and winners card and return them to Science Olympiad Headquarters, along with all student papers and calculations used to figure final scores. Leave a set of questions and an answer key with your scores.
8. Please plan to remain at headquarters after your scores have been turned in to answer questions from staff entering scores and the arbitration team. Every effort must be made to eliminate ties.

Event Supervisors are expected to follow the same guidelines, especially items 1–5. If you have any questions, contact the State Director.