Getting started
Starting a Science Olympiad team can be a daunting task. Fortunately, there are tried-and-true steps outlined on the national website that can help on your future team's journey to competition at the state tournament and beyond! To read all the details, you can visit this website, but we've gone through the trouble of summarizing and breaking down the main points for your convenience here!
To become an SCSO member and register for the state tournament, visit our registration page! Contact the state director or other SCSO staff with any questions you may have.
1
Gather support
A vital first step is a school that will support you and your team in all of your efforts. Relatively little funding is necessary to operate a team (the South Carolina registration fee is $200, roughly average compared to other state associations), though your school may have certain requirements that have to be met for you to operate a club or competition team like Science Olympiad. Costs can vary from season to season, as you'll also have to factor in expenses such as travel and food. Invitational tournaments, which are offered nationwide from October to April, almost always have registration fees of their own that usually hover around $100 (though this is just a rough estimate). Once you have the approval of your school and/or district's administrators, you can move on to building your team.
Your community may also have resources to help you! Just by reaching out, you may find that there are many people in the community who would be happy to volunteer some time to help your students learn. From experts willing to coach an event, to people who can help your students learn how to build a device, the community can often be a valuable resource.
2
Recruit interested students
The heart of any Science Olympiad team is the group of students that practice and participate in events. Science Olympiad is divided primarily into two divisions: Division B is made of junior high and middle school teams with students ranging from sixth to ninth grade, and Division C is made of high school teams with students ranging from ninth to twelfth grade. Some states sponsor Division A (grades Kâ6) competitions, though South Carolina will not do so this year. While only fifteen students can compete on one team in any given tournament, many tournaments offer the option to enter more than one team, giving even more of your students the opportunity to compete and better their skills, so don't worry if you get a lot of enthusiastic participants! Building up your team with students who are excited to learn and push each other to succeed is an exciting part of the process, and once you have your group of competitors you can begin to look at specific events!
3
Learn about the competition and begin practicing
Science Olympiad is a competition based around participation in 23 distinct science-themed events. Some consist of a written exam, some have students build and test a device, and some combine the two! Each division has its own list of events, though there is some overlap with events that are shared by both divisions, often with minor rules changes or changes to the scope of the event. The list of events changes slightly from year-to-year; for the 2024â25 season, there are six new Division B events and five new Division C events. Each event allows for a pair (or a trio, in several events) of students from each team to compete together, though in many events students are permitted to compete alone if desired.
Don't worry about the competition schedule at first - let your students examine the events and see what appeals to them! Some students will gravitate towards the exam-based events, where they'll be able to study resources and curate reference sheets to take with them on competition day, while others will be drawn to the building events where they can show off their craft and precision. Many schools practice at least once a week in after-school sessions, a great way to promote teambuilding and self-study of events.
4
Prepare for competition
Science Olympiad tournaments are the end goal for teams across the state and the country. Most tournaments are held over the course of one day, usually a Saturday morning and afternoon, during which events will take place in four to eight hour-long time slots. Since it's not possible for each event to have its own time slot, part of the difficulty in preparing for a tournament will be assigning students to compete in certain events. This can get tricky because of the degree of variance that can be present in the event schedules at different tournaments, which may lead to certain events conflicting with others in combinations that may force some difficult or frustrating personnel decisions. South Carolina follows the schedule used at the Science Olympiad National Tournament, which is also used by a number of invitationals. This means that any events that conflict at state will also conflict at nationals, meaning you won't have to make those tough decisions more times than you need to.
There are four types of competitions in the Science Olympiad season:
Invitationals are held across the country for the duration of the season, often beginning in October. Most are open to any team who pays the registration fee and is willing to travel (and for those that are unable to travel, virtual invitationals are also frequent) and provide valuable competition experience before the more important tournaments. They often award medals to the top competitors in each event and trophies to the best-performing teams, though ultimately they are nothing more than practice and their results have no bearing on qualification for, or placement in, any other tournaments.
Regionals are the first stage of qualifying tournament held across the country. In many states, teams must perform well in regionals to qualify for the state tournament, while in others it is simply required that teams participate in a regional tournament to qualify for the next step. Due to the small size of our state association, South Carolina does not host regional tournaments and instead allows all member teams to compete directly for a state title.
State is where the best teams in each Science Olympiad member organization compete for a state championship. Often hosted at a high school or college campus, the state tournament is the largest tournament run by each state organization each year. South Carolina has hosted a state tournament every year since 1985 (with the exception of 2020, when the state tournament was canceled due to COVID-19). Beginning in 2025, the SCSO State Tournament will be graciously hosted by Presbyterian College in Clinton. The champion of each division at the SCSO State Tournament receives a bid to the Science Olympiad National Tournament to represent our state.
Nationals is the pinnacle of each Science Olympiad season, where 120 teams across two divisions meet for a weekend of competition and learning. Hosted by a different university every year, the Science Olympiad National Tournament begins with an opening ceremony and swap meet on Friday night before a competition-packed Saturday concluding with a closing ceremony, the presentation of awards, and the crowning of new national champions. South Carolina has sent at least one team to the Science Olympiad National Tournament since its inception in 1985 and boasts six national championships.
5
Compete in a tournament
This is the fun part! During competition, students will be able to show off what they've learned as they vie for medals and trophies in each event. Often times, your team will be provided a home base, usually a classroom space, where students can spend time while they're not competing. The biggest takeaway from competition is to have fun! It can get stressful during competition, especially on bigger college campuses or those you're unfamiliar with, but at the end of the day everyone is winning when they're getting passionate about teaching and learning science.