National Science Bowl^®

Denver, Colo., June 24, 2006 – Five middle school students from Honey Creek Middle School in Terre Haute, Ind., showed their mastery of science today, winning the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Middle School Science Bowl. Winners of the model hydrogen fuel cell car competition also were announced today with Daniel Wright Junior High School from Lincolnshire, Ill., taking home the trophy for the fastest model car.

Each of the winners topped 24 other competing teams in this battle to be the best and brightest among the country’s young science students.

During round robin and double elimination competition, the Honey Creek Middle School team of Sachin Shinde, Sangeeth Jeevan, Jospeh Botros, Peter Bittar and John Ryan successfully answered tough questions about life sciences, physical science, earth sciences and math that could stump most of the U.S. adult population. These whiz kids beat out the team from Albuquerque, N.M., in the final round of competition. The team from Albuquerque Academy earned second place, while Daniel Wright Junior High School came in third. In addition, organizers gave a civility award to Kenmoor Middle School of Landover, Md., for showing the most positive spirit. A complete list of winners and participants follows.

The contest is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and General Motors, administered by DOE’s Office of Science and hosted by DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at the University of Denver. The U.S. Department of Energy National Middle School Science Bowl challenges sixth grade to eighth grade students to learn about math and science and encourages them to choose careers in those fields.

"The National Middle School Science Bowl shows us that bright and curious young people are all over our country,” Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman said. “All of the young people in this competition demonstrated a mastery of a variety of scientific and technical subjects. It’s encouraging to see these students who embody the excitement in science and mathematics that we are trying to promote through our American Competitiveness Initiative. By increasing funding in science and science education, the U.S. will remain the world’s leader in science, engineering and discovery.”

"At GM, we recognize the important contributions young minds can make to the world. Participation in this competition will go a long way toward finding creative solutions to future challenges," said Elizabeth A. Lowery, GM vice president of environment and energy.

First, second and third place winners of the model hydrogen fuel cell car competition receive a $100, $75 or $50 gift certificate from Discovery.com. The first, second and third place winners of the scientific knowledge competition will receive TI-73 calculators in addition to $100, $75 and $50 Discovery.com gift certificates. Each of the eight teams that advanced to the double elimination rounds for the Science Bowl competition also receives a team check for $500. For more information and photos of the National Middle School Science Bowl, visit http://www.scied.science.doe.gov/nmsb

Following on the success of the National Science Bowl for senior high school students which started in 1991, DOE’s Office of Science began the National Middle School Science Bowl in 2002. The department supports math and science education to help provide a technically trained and diverse workforce for the agency and the nation. More information about its programs is available at http://www.scied.science.doe.gov.

DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the nation and ensures U.S. world leadership across a broad range of scientific disciplines. The Office of Science also manages 11 world-class national laboratories with unmatched capabilities for solving complex interdisciplinary problems, and it builds and operates some of the nation’s most advanced R & D user facilities, located at national laboratories and universities. These facilities are used by more than 17,000 researchers from universities, other government agencies, and private industry each year.