Science team returns from capital

The Lakeside High School Science Bowl Team recently returned from the national Science Bowl competition in Washington, D.C.

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Although the team didn't place, team members said that just getting to the event was quite an accomplishment.

"It's very hard to win at the national level with 61 teams represented, but we met a lot of people and enjoyed the activities and competition," said Charlotte Smith, the team's advisor and a science teacher at the school. "To put things in proper perspective, one of the speakers pointed out that over 15,000 students entered Science Bowl competitions nationwide and around 200 students actually made it to the national bowl. So, we are winners to begin with."

The Lakeside High team is composed of four students - seniors Lindsey Liu and Peter Huang, junior Ben Chan and sophomore Zach Dromsky. The students competed against 20 other teams at regional events in February, placing first and advancing to nationals.

"The regional competition was an academic format competition which included questions from astronomy, earth science, math, biology, chemistry, physics and general science," Smith said. "It was a double elimination match."

The nationals were held April 26-30. Smith said she is grateful to the U.S. Department of Energy for encouraging "excellence in science and math.

"We practiced all year for this competition," she said. "Competitions like the Science Bowl foster interest and further exploration into the fields of math and science, which our country greatly needs in this time of energy crunches, technology advances and medical research such as stem cell decisions. This was a competition that allowed our best and brightest to shine."