| 8:00 – 8:30 AM | Students & Judges Arrive – **NEW** Multiple Locations Somers High School will be used for all categories EXCEPT Behavior. Somers Middle School will be used for ONLY the Behavior Category. All students should go into the main entrance and proceed to the auditorium. Students are strongly encouraged to be dropped off and/or carpool as there will not be enough parking for all of the 400 judges, the 50 teachers and 700 students. |
| 9:00 AM | Student Orientation in the Auditorium Students will convene for a short orientation before judging sessions begin. Immediately thereafter, students will proceed to their posters in either Somers High School or Middle School. Student attendance will be taken at their posters. |
| 9:00 AM | Judge Welcoming Remarks We will be holding a short informational meeting with judges at Somers HS and Somers HS |
| 9:40 AM | Judging Sessions Begin Any student not at their poster when the judging starts at 9:40 will be disqualified from participating. Projects will likely have 4-5 individual official judge interviews. The students should be prepared to give a seven minute summary of their research. Judges are then permitted 5 minutes for Q&A. There will be official judging periods, indicated by a tone which will signal the start and finish of each judging session. Judges will then have an 7 minute window to score rubrics and move to the next poster. In some cases, Special Awards Judges will also meet with and interview students. Under no circumstances should a Judge review a student project for which there may be a conflict of interest. Judges are asked to recuse themselves from any projects where they do not feel they can fairly assess a student project. |
| 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM | Judge Lunch Lunch for the judges will be provided in the Cafeteria. Judges can choose to take a break during this time but must complete all judging assignments as soon as possible. |
| 11:30 – 2:00 PM | Student Lunch Student Lunch (bag) will be available starting around 11:30 There will be an area in the lobby/commons of each school where students can pick up their bagged lunch. Students should pick up their bagged lunch and bring it back to their poster area where they can eat in between judging sessions. There will be vegetarian/vegan and gluten free options for ONLY those that indicated their preference when registering. Students are encouraged to bring snacks, a water bottle, and/or their own lunch in addition to the WESEF-provided lunch. |
| 3:20 PM | Judging Sessions finishing up |
| 3:30 – 4:30 PM | Public Viewing Session Parents, siblings, friends are invited to see all of the posters and talk to the students about their projects during this time period. Students MUST be at their poster from 3:30 – 4:30 for the public open house in order to be eligible to win an award. During this time, it is possible that Special Awards Judging and Tie Breaking will still be occurring. |
| 4:30- 5:00 PM | Project Breakdown and Clean up. Poster and all project materials as well as food waste must be removed. We need everyone’s help breaking down and cleaning up the gym starting at 4:30. Students will be responsible for cleaning up their space and stacking their chairs. Adults will fold and remove chairs. Any materials left at Somers HS or Somers MS School will be disposed of. We are not responsible for any materials left behind. |
| Thursday March 20th, 2025 Doors Open: 5:30 PM Begins at: 6:30 PM Somers High School | Regeneron WESEF 2025 AWARDS CEREMONY The WESEF Awards Ceremony will take place in the gymnasium at Somers High School, Somers, NY. Invitations will be sent out during the week prior to the ceremony. Students are limited to only ONE guest due to limited space. The Awards ceremony will be availble via Livestream so additional viewers can watch from home. | |