Become an ACT-SO Volunteer

VOLUNTEER
JUDGES | MENTORS | COACHES

Subject matter experts in the community and at Illinois State University serve as judges, and mentors, or volunteers for Bloomington-Normal ACT-SO (Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics).

If you are interested in becoming an ACT-SO judge, mentor, or coach, please indicate your interest by completing the Volunteer Request Form or Judge Intent Form. Please familiarize yourself with the requirements for your category by reviewing the ACT-SO Committee Volunteer Opportunities and Competition Categories Guidelines.

Coaches work with students in a group setting at monthly enrichment sessions. Coaches provide information about resources (information the students can use to complete their projects). They are available in the enrichment session to answer questions and give advice. Coaches do not need to be available for every enrichment session, but should commit to at least 2 sessions. Coaches cannot be judges or mentors in the same category they are coaching.

Qualifications: It is preferred that Coaches be professionals working in the field in which they volunteer or have degrees in the field. However, retired from the field or extensive knowledge of the field because of previous work experience is acceptable if the talents and skills are still up to date.

Judges attend the competition and use pre-established criteria to score student projects or performances. (In the Humanities, Sciences and Business categories, judges receive the students’ written materials 2 weeks before competition for pre-judging of that portion of the competition). Judges cannot be a coach or mentor in the competition category they are judging. ACT-SO Judge Intent Form

Qualifications: Judges should either be professionals working in the field in which they volunteer or have degrees in the field. More information about the category descriptions, project requirements and judging criteria can be found in the Competition Categories Guidelines.

Mentors work with students one-on-one to help them prepare for competition. Meetings should be at least monthly, but can be as often as student and mentor decide. Mentors cannot be coaches or judges in the same competition category they are mentoring a student in, but can coach or judge another category.

Qualifications: It is preferred that Mentors be professionals working in the field in which they volunteer or have degrees in the field. However, retired from the field or extensive knowledge of the field because of previous work experience is acceptable if the talents and skills are still up to date.