On February 25, 2012, the North Hollywood High School Science Bowl team won the trophy for its fourteenth win out of fifteen consecutive years, making the win its seventh consecutive victory. The Regional Science Bowl competition was held at the John Ferraro Building at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). The North Hollywood High School B Team won fourth place in the competition, making it to semifinals. In total, the school and its competitors collectively won $9250.
The Science Bowl competition is a competition hosted by the National Department of Energy. Students participate in competitions at a regional level, from which the top teams meet to play in the National competition held in Washington, DC. It is a competition very similar to Jeopardy, and teams of four with one alternate work together to “buzz in” into questions.
The basic rules of the Science Bowl buzzer competition are as follows. If a team gets the tossup question, which can be answered by either team playing and which can be either short answer or multiple choice, the team who answered gets four points. However, if the team who “buzzed in” says the wrong answer, the question is open for the other team. If the team who “buzzed in” answers wrongly and “buzzed in” while the reader was still reading the question, four points are given to the other team and the question is reread for the other team. The team that gets the right answer to the question will get the chance to answer a bonus question worth ten points.
There were two types of competitions, the buzzer competition and the hands-on competition. The buzzer competition was the main event, and the hands-on competition allowed teams who had lost early to take part in a competition that involved building devices while following a set of rules for chances at money. This year, the hands-on competition involved creating a gripping device.
The winning team received a scholarship of $1000 for each team member and $2000 for the school, in a total sum of $7000. The second place received $500 for each team member and $1750 for the school and the third place received $300 for each team member and $1500 for the school, for a total of $4250 and $3000 respectively. Finally, the fourth place team received $200 for each team member and took $1250 for the school, for a total of $2250. In total, $15500 was given out for the buzzer competition.
“That was amazing,” stated the coach of the teams, Altair Maine, referring to the final round, “that was an extremely intense match.” He additionally remarked, “The teams this year were all really good, but our teams just worked really hard to pull it off.”
“I’m glad that we [Team A] won!” says Lily Zhou, a junior who participated as a member of the North Hollywood High School B Team. She says, summing up the anticipation that people felt before the competition, “I didn’t feel that I was prepared the morning before, and I was still studying and rereading chapters in the morning while I was driving to LADWP. However, after we got there and began playing, I found out that we were more prepared than we thought we were.” Rain Tsong, the captain for the winning team, North Hollywood High School A Team, a senior, states regarding preparation, that “.I think that [the A team] were as prepared as we could have been. I don’t think there was a large amount of knowledge that we could have accumulated before competition that would help very much.”
Why Science Bowl, and why not any of the other various science competitions? “I enjoy Science Bowl because it gives me a chance to learn different subjects that I would never have considered learning otherwise, such as biology and geology, the experience of working with my teammates, and the adrenaline rush of buzzing in on a question and being correct,” says Zhou, “and I would recommend science bowl to my friends! In fact, I already have.” Tsong says something extremely similar, summing it all up in eight words, “Science. Buzzers. Teammates. What more do you need?”
Science Bowl, besides being a competition bringing people from all over the states and country together, additionally has a competition for middle school students, who also get a chance to compete for the national title in Washington, DC. People who play enjoy the game not only because of the fun of playing, but also the fun of watching others play. In the words of Rain Tsong, “The whole experience is exhilarating and definitely a thrill until the end, even when you’re out.”
