Our first regional event is Thursday, March 5, and they continue through Tuesday, March 31. Here is some information to help you and your students survive the craziness that is regional event season.

• Make sure you send in your school’s registration forms by the deadline, which is two weeks before your regional event. Late forms delay event schedules.
• When you check the event schedule, posted on our website a few days before the event, check for name misspellings. These are the names that will go on certificates, so you’ll want to ensure they’re spelled correctly. Also check for missing entries — we don’t want to leave anyone out who is supposed to be competing!
• Unless it is an emergency, we can’t change judging times after the schedule has been posted.
• Information and directions for all events is posted on our website. You can send parents here to print out PDFs if they are coming to view the event.

Please feel free to contact us, and please be patient with us during this busy time. This is a great time of year, but the sheer size of the events certainly keeps everyone on their toes. Here’s a little glimpse of the regional participation in Minnesota for 2009:

• 12 regional events within 26 days
• 218 schools participating in regional events
• Approximately 4,300 students participate in the regional events
• About 1,100 students (excluding paper and website) advance to the state competition