2023 Great Lake Coaches' Clinic
November 10-11, 2023

VIRTUAL
Friday, November 10th | 6-8:30 pm

IN PERSON
Saturday, November 11th | 8 am-3:05 pm
Daniel Wright Junior High, Lincolnshire, IL

REGISTRATION
$135 ($150 with mug)
Why participate?
​
Learn about each specific event from the State and National event supervisors!  The experts will join us to host individual sessions on each event where you will gain insight on the rules, practice sample test questions, participate in hands-on builds, and ask questions. 

​Receive a copy of all presentations and materials given throughout the day. 

Network with other teams and meet other coaches who face similar challenges and celebrations as you! This gives you the opportunity to learn with and from each other. 

Receive some ISO swag!  Each participant will get an ISO tote bag and all will be put into a raffle for full Wards event kits, ISO gear, and gift cards. 
​
Have the opportunity to purchase ISO gear for you and/or your students (pennants will be BACK!)

​Enjoy lunch with your ISO family and meet new people to include in your circle! ​
Overview
What is the Great Lakes Coaches' Clinic?

The goal of the clinic is to help Science Olympiad coaches learn how to prepare their teams for this year's competitions.    


Who should attend the Great Lakes Coaches' Clinic?

The GLCC is meant for coaches of every level, and we invite coaches from across the country to attend.  The GLCC has sessions for coaches at every level of experience!  


Who are the presenters at the Great Lakes Coaches' Clinic?

We have National Rules Committee Chairs, National Event Supervisors, State Event Supervisors, Regional Event Supervisors and veteran coaches as presenters.  See the Presenters section below for a current list of confirmed presenters.


What types of sessions are offered at Great Lakes Coaches' Clinic?

The GLCC offers several different types of sessions for coaches:
  • Event Sessions: These sessions prepare your team in a particular event.  We offer sessions in every event in both Division B and Division C.
  • Coaching Sessions: We have sessions with tips for new coaches, coaches looking to advance their programs, how to write and supervise a Science Olympiad event at a competition, and sessions specific to coaching for a "Satellite SO" competition.
​

​Who do I contact if I have question?
Please contact Stacy.Martinez@illinoisolympiad.org

Past Presenters

​Pam Abbott
Pam Abbott began as a Roxana High School coach in 1990. In 2009, Pam began teaching Chemistry at SIUE and LCCC. She has served as a Scrambler supervisor on the regional, state and national level. Pam currently serves as an ISO arbitrator and state board member and as a regional co-director at SWIC.

Phil Adamson
A physicist by trade, Phil had been involved with Science Olympiad as a parent, coach, and Event Supervisor for the last seven years.

Ursula Ahern​
Ursula has been involved in Science Olympiad since 1996. She is a science enthusiast and has coached most of the building events (Mission Possible B & C, Wheeled Vehicle, Mousetrap, Planes and more). Her passion is creating resources and supporting students in their quest for science learning. She enjoys letting students make mistakes in a safe environment and then build towards success. If she had to choose a favorite event, it would be Crime Busters. She has written countless crime scenarios and run the event at numerous invitational and regional competitions over the past 15 years.

Mark Ailes​
Retired physics teacher and former SO coach and State supervisor for Bridge for many years. Current state supervisor for bridge.

Jon Aros
Environmental chemist, national event supervisor for Chem Lab C & Environmental Chem C, 29 year volunteer for science olympiad in many events and all levels from regional to state to nationals.

Natalie Bader
I have been coaching since 2006 and an invite director and regional director since 2010.

Joanna Beu &
​Jared Cloud
Joanna and Jared are parent coaches with ten years of SO coaching experience spanning both the B and C division across multiple build and study events, including a state medalist Wheeled Vehicle team.

Nan Buckardt ​
Nan has a long history with Science Olympiad, ranging from 12 years of coaching a B Division team to writing tests at all levels of competition and proudly being a two time National Champion Coach. Her goal is to help students fall in love with science.

Vicki Burgholzer &
​Lexi Pond ​
Lexi is the Illinois State and regional Event Co Supervisor for Rocks and Minerals and Fossils. Vicki is the Illinois State and Regional Event Co Supervisor for Rocks and Minerals and fossils. In a past life both Vicki and Lexi were head coaches.

Amerigo Carnazzola
Have taught in high school for 21 years and served as a division C coach in Science Olympiad for 19 years.

CeAnn Chalker
I have been involved with Science Olympiad since 1990 as a Parent, Coach, local school district Science Olympiad Director, SO Coaching Clinic Chair, SO Invitational Director, National Tournament Director, National Technology Committee Chair, Rules Committee member, & National Advisory Committee Member. My actual educational background is in accounting. I have a full-time job for a large candy/snack brokerage firm. Many people ask why I spend so much time involved with Science Olympiad. Even my license plate has “SO” in it! I spend so much time on SO because I have seen the benefits for the students over the past 30 years. Not only for our 4 children but for the thousands of children who have been involved in the program. I have seen students blossom into engineers or scientists because of their experience of participating on a SO team. I have seen students realize that it is important to work with others to share ideas, to research together, to work as a team. I have seen students find that there is always more to learn. I’ve seen students learn to not be afraid to try something new. I have seen students find friendships that last a lifetime, beyond their school years.  Science Olympiad offers so much to everyone. I love when parents say they have never seen their student so interested in a subject – whether it’s studying birds, stars, ecology, electronics, building – students seem to find their niche. Science Olympiad is not a short-term project in school, it is a long-term project that can carry through a student’s lifetime.

Sharon Drude
My first involvement in Science Olympiad was as a parent volunteer at Ohio’s State Tournament in 1989 when my daughter was involved as a high school student. Ten years later I started coaching for a division B team when I became a Middle School Science teacher. Since 1999 I have coached numerous events whenever needed for our team. Those events include Water Quality, Bio Process, Rocks and Minerals, Meteorology, Food Science, Aquifers, Can’t Judge a Powder, Environmental Science, Disease Detectives, Potions and Poisons, Heredity, and Fossils. Although I retired from teaching in 2008, it is my joy to continue coaching Science Olympiad and sharing the value of the Science Olympiad experience to anyone who will listen!

Kim Dyer
Kim Dyer has coached Science Olympiad at South Middle School for 18 years. She has had the privilege of working with National and State Event Coordinators presenting at the Great Lakes Clinic, writing State Event Tests and many Invitationals in Illinois and Ohio. She has also had the privilege of being a part of the Illinois Elementary Science Olympiad from the inception.

Alexander Howe
Alexander Howe and Kiimberly Dwan serve as sponsors for New Trier High School. Both have been coaching for 10+ years and have helped design a program that is largely student run and allows competition opportunities to a diverse group of 45+ students. Alex has a background in physics and engineering and Kiim a background in genetics. Kiim also coaches for Glencoe Central's S.O. team.

Dhruva Karkada
I'm a science olympiad alumnus and medaled at the national tournament in 2017. Since graduating, I've been involved in outreach efforts for the Astronomy event, serving as event supervisor for invitationals across the country, contributing to the national exam, and presenting at coaches' clinics.

Paul Karnstedt
 I’ve coached Science Olympiad for 10+ years and been a state supervisor for Sounds of Music.

Natalie Keigher
​Natalie teaches and coaches Science Olympiad at Lisle Junior High School. She currently serves on ISO's Executive Board, and was a member of her high school's Science Olympiad team in the 1990s.

Elizabeth LaPlante
Liz is an environmental scientist in the Great Lakes National Program Office of the US Environmental Protection Agency, where she is the EPA manager for Lakes Superior and Huron. She also serves on the EPA Regional Climate Change workgroup, and works with communities, tribes and states seeking to remediate past mining sites. She has been a Science Olympiad parent coach and state event supervisor for the Water Quality/Ecology event for over 9 years.

Ann Maine
Ann Maine has been a B and C level Science Olympiad Coach for over 20 years. She has been the Illinois State supervisor for Disease Detectives for many years. She is an Associate Prof. of Biology at Lake Forest College, where she teaches, among other courses, Emerging World Diseases.

​Chuck Markos
​20 years coaching, supervising, new event concepts, and rules writing for Flight Events

Stacy Martinez
​I have been involved in coaching Science Olympiad since 1995. I coach at Wredling Middle School in St. Charles, IL. I have been a member of the state core team since 2018.

Dan Nichols
Dan Nichols is the National Science Olympiad Program Director. He was a long time coach in Indiana, as well as tournament director. He served on the Indiana Science Olympiad State board serving as State Director for several years. He has been a National event Supervisor and is also the current Inquiry committee chairperson.

Alec Renner
Alec Renner has more than a decade's worth of experience coaching B and C divisions for the Grayslake, Illinois, community as well as supervising events at the Illinois State level including Microbe Mission C. He is a fourth year podiatric medical student at Rosalind Franklin University and looks forward to starting residency next year.

Isaac Robinovitz
I have been involved in Science Olympiad since I started in Chicago Public Schools as a Science Teacher and am now in my 14th season. I have been a B and a C coach, a CPS invitational director, the CPS regional co-director, and state and regional event supervisor for three different events over those fourteen years (Robot Arm, Battery Buggy, and It's About Time). Last year I was Illinois's State Event supervisor and the Illinois State Regional Supervisor for last year's version of IAT.

Eric Rowley
Eric has his Ph.D. in Science (Physics) Education from the University of Iowa, his M.A.T in Physics and Chemistry Education from Minnesota State University, Mankato, and his B.S. in Physics from the University of Minnesota, Institute of Technology.  He is a Senior Lecturer of Physics at Wright State University and has spent the past 20+ years teaching physics, physical science, and science education at all levels.  Eric’s experience with Science Olympiad began with coaching B and C-Division teams in Minnesota in 1998 culminating in a trip to Nationals in 2002.  He is currently an event coach in Ohio. Including experience in both Minnesota and Ohio, Eric has co-directed regional tournaments, served as Regional, State, and National Event Supervisor for several events including Experimental Design and Write-it/Do-it.

Troy Simpson
Troy has been coaching Science Olympiad teams at Watseka Jr. High (formerly Glenn Raymond School) for 28 years. He is currently the team head coach with primary coaching focus in the Earth Science and building events, where his students are regular regional and state medalists, along with several top ten team finishes at state. He has been a Regional Event Supervisor in a number of Earth Science events and has been the Illinois State event supervisor for Geologic Mapping and Remote Sensing events for several years. Troy teaches 8th grade Earth Science and 7th Grade Life Science at Watseka Jr. High. He was recognized by Illinois Science Teaching Associations' Outstanding Science Teaching Award in 2007 and the National Association of Geoscience Teachers with the Outstanding Earth Science Teacher Award in 2016. He also has led or co-led several geologic field experiences for educators and students getting people outdoors and connecting the learning experience beyond the classroom.

Michael Smith
National Event Supervisor for Detector Building Third Year, T3 National Science Instructor for Texas Instrument for 34 years, Science Educator 43 years.

Howie Swider
Howie is a retired physics teacher from Niles West High School where he coached all of the building events for 24 years. This is his 28th season of Science Olympiad and has been an event supervisor at the Regional, State and National levels.

​Connor Todd
I began competing in Science Olympiad in my freshman year of high school, focusing on Earth & Space Science events. I competed in Astronomy at the National Tournament for three years, including a 1st place finish in 2015. I began writing Solar System and Astronomy exams for the regional to national level in 2016 and have been covering both events at coaches' clinics since 2017. I studied Mechanical Engineering as an undergraduate and Space Engineering as a master's student, both at the University of Michigan, and am currently a test engineer for the ground segment of the James Webb Space Telescope at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD.

Amy Truemper 
Amy has been a coach since 2004 and for 13 years has been involved with Experimental Design at the regional and state level for both B and C divisions.​

Lin Wozniewski
Lin Wozniewski has been a Lecturer at Indiana University Northwest in Gary IN for 35 years. She is Chairman of the Chemistry Rules Committee for Science Olympiad and National Event Supervisor for Forensics. She is also active with the Indiana Science Olympiad Board.

VERY Special Thank Yous

Emily Brazil
​Emily has been a Science Olympiad event coach for 10 years, a Regional co-chair, and a passionate champion for science education.  As a patented scientist herself, she invests her time in assuring student learners have opportunities to explore and develop curiosity about the world around them. She coordinated breakfast and lunch for this event.  Clearly, she is the MVP! 

Arturo Garcia
Arturo has been a supporter of Science Olympiad for 6 years.  He is a co-head coach and has been an event supervisor for several events.  When the program needed help during the pandemic, Arturo donated countless hours by developing technology that allowed our students to participate from afar.  He continues to be integral in our program by helping to manage the website, designing logos, and being the brain behind many challenges.  He coordinated all technology needs for the Great Lakes Coaches Clinic. ​

Stacy Martinez
​Stacy is the most familiar name in the ISO program and it SHOULD be!  She keeps the program organized and communication flowing.  She always has the answers we all need and sends the perfect gifs for every occasion.  Thank you, Stacy, for your help with registration and communication (and for keeping us all grounded)! 

Eric Rexer &
​Lisa Solesky
​Eric and Lisa are the head coaches of the Daniel Wright Science Olympiad program and have led their student learners to National competitions for years.  Their dedication to the program exceeds their home school.  When GLCC was in need of a host location, they jumped at the chance to help Illinois Science Olympiad.  Our sincerest thanks to the Lincolnshire School District and to both Eric and Lisa for going above and beyond! 

Heather Rocen
​Heather is the master of all things ISO! From the website, to email, to wufoo, to avogadro and scilympiad…. SHE does it all! Thank you, Heather, for keeping up with the changes to registration and for creating (and recreating) form after form to make GLCC possible.   Thanks, also, for sharing your smile and kindness with us all!

Ward's Science
Ward’s Science has been a supporter of the Science Olympiad program for years!  This year they donated the bags, mugs, and a few team kits.  We are grateful for their sponsorship.   Check them out for all your science education needs - https://www.wardsci.com/store/.