NEWS FROM WESTERN AREA POWER ADMINISTRATION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 8, 2013
Contact: Judy Shimek, 406-247-2925, shimek@wapa.gov

2013 BIG SKY REGIONAL SCIENCE BOWL HIGHLIGHTS

BILLINGS, Mont.— Once again the Big Sky Regional Science Bowl saw a terrific turnout of middle and high school teams focused on winning the championship and a trip to Washington, D.C.

The Montana Middle School Science Bowl kicked off the event Feb. 1st.  Out of the fifteen middle school teams that competed, Will James Middle School, rose through the ranks and claimed first place.  North Middle School of Great Falls was right on Will James’ heels in second place and Glasgow Middle School took third place.

Congratulations also went to Shepherd Middle School for winning the Civility Award.

Helena High School wins high school competition

Bright minds and trigger fingers helped science students from Helena High School take first place Saturday for the third year in a row at the Big Sky Regional Science Bowl, advancing to the national competition in Washington, D.C., April 25 to 29.

The team defended its 2012 title against 27 teams from 16 high schools during the 21st annual Big Sky Regional Science Bowl held at the Crowne Plaza.  A second team of Helena High students competed in a head-to-head competition in the final round against Helena’s Team A for second place.

As the competition wore on, the final match came down to Helena High Team B and Helena High School Team A.  Finally, Helena High Team A clinched the Big Sky Regional Science Bowl championship at the Crown Plaza. The winning team—including Katie Chamberlain, Thomas Culver, Mark Sargent, Bridger Howell and Joe Whitney —together with Coach Jerry McCarthy, advances to Washington, D.C., April 25-29 to compete against 70 other regional winners in the national finals of the Department of Energy’s National Science Bowl.  Helena High School Team B finished second place and will attend the Montana Space Grant Consortium Student Research Symposium in Bozeman April 19th.  Fergus High School took third place.  

Twenty-seven teams from 16 high schools from across Montana competed for the regional title Feb. 2nd.  Many of these teams spent months preparing for this regional event, which features head-to-head competitions in a fast-paced question and answer format similar to Jeopardy. The students competed to be the first to answer questions on all science disciplines including Biology, Chemistry, Earth and Space Science, Energy, Mathematics and Physics.

Will James School triumphs in car challenge

As the high school participants settled into their day of competition, the middle school participants readied their lithium ion battery model cars for a design review and speed race.

As the day progressed, questions were read, answers given (missed and sometimes challenged) and cars sped down the racetrack.  There were interruptions and blurts, as well as excitement and disappointment and scores to be tallied. In fact, there was enough energy generated by the participants and their crowd of on-lookers to likely power a small town in the Midwest for a week or two!

Will James Middle School won the car competition for the 12th straight year.  They also took first place in the academic completion and car engineering/design competition.  Fairfield Middle School came in second and North Middle School of Great Falls came in third.

About Science Bowl

This year more than 13,000 high school students from schools in 42 states and Puerto Rico will compete in the national competition. Since 1991, more than 130,000 students and teachers have participated. Details on the National Science Bowl can be found online at http://www.science.energy.gov/wdts/nsb/.

2013 BIG SKY REGIONAL SCIENCE BOWL 1st PLACE:

Helena A Team: Katie Chamberlain, Thomas Culver, Mark Sargent and Joe Whitney (L-R) ponder a question on their way to winning the Big Sky Regional Science Bowl Feb. 2 2013.

Helena A Team: Katie Chamberlain, Joe Whitney, Bridger Howell, Thomas Culver     Mark Sargent and coach Jerry McCarthy (L-R).

2013 BIG SKY REGIONAL SCIENCE BOWL 2nd PLACE:

Helena B Team: Jake Pennington, Dima Korobienikov, Ben Fox, Kirsten Marble    Jordan Barrows and coach Jerry McCarthy

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