The Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School took home first place at the Department of Energy’s science bowl, held Feb. 22 at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.
The middle school students participating were Jerry Kong, Akash Kumar, Irene Qiao, Brian Wei and another student, and they were led by Rob Ambrose, grade eight science teacher.
For the middle school, 16 teams of five students each competed in a double elimination contest with oral questions from the fields of chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy and mathematics.
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Ambrose said the team played five matches with a final victory over the JDroids Science Club, an independent team.
“In a double elimination tournament of 16 teams, BRMS did not lose a single match,” he said.
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“The team’s victory is the result of months of hard work, practice and studying,” he added. “They are an amazing group of kids and their performance and display of knowledge at the Regional Science Bowl was impressive to say the least.”
The high school team, which participated in the competition Saturday, came in sixth out of 32 teams.
The high school students participating were Nikhil Kunapuli, Aneek Patel, Nayan Bhat, Sahaj Garg and Jackie Lin, and they were led by Mike Herbst, science supervisor at the school.
Superintendent of Schools Michael Schilder said the middle school team will now be heading to the National Science Bowl, to be held in Maryland April 25 through April 29.
According to Schilder, the team earned an all-expenses paid trip to compete with 120 middle and high school teams from across the country.
On the first night, Schilder said, they will have a tour of the National Monument, followed by a trip to the National Mall the next day. The academic competition will be held on the Saturday of the trip, and they will spend the Sunday in Bethesda for a battery-powered car competition.
This will culminate in a final competition Monday in Washington D.C., before they head home.
“This is completely paid for by the Department of Energy,” Schilder said.
Schilder said the middle school has never had a sponsor for the team until this year, and the high school has never placed as high as they did this year.
“Congratulations to them,” he said. “This is fantastic.”
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