By Tommy Chan

The Mirror Staff

By Yerin Oh

The Mirror Staff

“Being able to participate in the Science Bowl competition was a great experience. I met a lot of new people, saw old friends, and tested my knowledge with my teammates.Although we placed lower than expected, going to the Science Bowl competition was a great experience. I hope to study hard and try to place higher.”

CAMPUS NEWS

Science Bowl Places 4th in Regionals

CAMPUS NEWS:After months of practice and preparation, VNHS Science Bowl team loses the chance to go to States after placing 4th in Regionals

Van Nuys High School’s Science Bowl Teams gave it their all at the regional competition held in Downtown Los Angeles at the Department of Water and Power on Feb. 26, despite falling short for state qualifications at the regional competitions.

Science Bowl is an academic competition that focuses on quizzing students in all areas of science and mathematics through a fast-paced buzzer system.

High school Science Bowl teams are divided into two sub-teams, A and B, consisting of five members per sub-team. Although Team A is usually more advanced and distinguished, Teams A and B were matched in intellect this year.

Team A consisted of Captain Keshan Huang, Tyler Jung, Claire Lee, Woo Han, and Daron Excel. Team B was composed of Captain Joseph Yoon, Micaela Soria, Gavin Groode, Teresa Thomas, and Arif Latif.

At the regional competition on Saturday Feb. 26, school teams were divided into six divisions, each consisting of seven teams.

All teams were to compete in at least one of the three rounds: main, hands on, and afternoon.

The Main Round competed teams within their divisions. Those who placed 1st and 2nd automatically moved on to the afternoon rounds while three teams that placed 3rd had to compete for a tie-breaker round to see which would move on to the afternoon rounds.

The rest of the teams can choose whether or not to compete in the Hands On Round. Although this does not move teams on to the Afternoon Rounds or State competition, they are still able to earn rewards based on their results.

The Afternoon Rounds, consisting of all teams who qualified from Main Round, had the remaining teams compete to qualify for states. Only 1st place in this round would get to move on.

In the Main Round, both VNHS A Team and B Team got 4th place in their divisions. This, unfortunately, meant that they were unable to compete in the afternoon rounds to move on to State competitions.

“I met a lot of new people, saw old friends, and tested my knowledge with my teammates,” said Claire Lee, member of A Team. “Although we placed lower than expected, going to the Science Bowl competition was a great experience. I hope to study hard place higher next time.”

The B Team did place 2nd in the Hands On Round. Each member won a $200 Office Depot gift card.

“I thought our team was very strong. Each of us had strengths in different fields and that is critical for success in this type of competition,” said Micaela Soria, a member of Team B. “We trusted each other and were close friends which allowed for great communication.”