ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Students from Albuquerque Academy’s Team 1 are headed to the U.S. Department of Energy National Science Bowl in Washington, D.C., after taking the top spot at the New Mexico Regional Middle School Science Bowl at Albuquerque Academy on Saturday, March 2.
More than 130 students from 29 teams representing 12 New Mexico middle schools participated in the annual event. A fast-paced question-and-answer tournament tests students’ knowledge in biology, chemistry, physics and math.
The winning team received an all-expenses-paid trip to the nation’s capital to compete against top teams from across the country in late April.
The students representing the first-place team are Harrison Bay, Eric Swiler, Henry Luo, Mark Swiler and team captain Thor Larson, coached by Barbara Gilbert. Second place was Team 1 from Los Alamos Middle School, and Team 2 from Albuquerque Academy took the third spot.
Sandia National Laboratories coordinates the New Mexico Regional Middle School Science Bowl for DOE’s Office of Science. The National Science Bowl for Middle School students was started in 2002 and includes two types of competitions: an academic math and science competition and a model car race. Teams design, build and race models cars to apply science and engineering principles. DOE created the National Science Bowl for High School Students in 1991 to encourage students to excel in math and science and pursue careers in related fields. More than 200,000 students have participated in the National Science Bowl in the 23 years since its inception.
Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin company, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies and economic competitiveness.
Sandia news media contact: Stephanie Hobby, (505) 280-3905, shobby@sandia.gov