SLAC celebrates 20th anniversary hosting Regional Science Bowl
The winning teams from Fusion Academy and Joaquin Miller Middle School will continue on to nationals.
By Chris Patrick
A familiar middle school and a newcomer high school took home top honors at this year’s Regional Science Bowl – a special one for the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, which has now hosted the event for 20 years.
The event, part of the National Science Bowl, quizzes San Francisco Bay Area middle and high school students in science and math in the hope of inspiring lifelong careers in STEM.
“Few things are more motivating than seeing brilliant future STEM leaders come together for Science Bowl,” said Melinda Lee, SLAC’s chief communications officer and SLAC’s original Regional Science Bowl coordinator. “Since hosting SLAC’s earliest competitions 20 years ago, the spirited comradery and community support, in volunteers and cheers, continue to lift all who are lucky enough to be involved.”
Coach, Westborough Middle SchoolThose memories are what we look back fondly on after all our years participating and still have us laughing.
Twenty-eight teams from 26 high schools competed in this year’s high school competition, which took place on Feb. 28 and was managed by SLAC’s Molly Glover and Rachel Isip. Three teams participated for the first time: Aragon High, Design Tech High and Fusion Academy Cupertino.
Despite their newbie status, Fusion Academy prevailed.
“The moment they won was absolutely electric,” said Fusion Academy coach and head of school Sara Javid. “The excitement, the relief, the pure joy – it was incredible to witness. I could see the pride on their faces, and they knew that all their hard work had paid off.”
At the middle school event on Mar. 1, Joaquin Miller Middle won for the fourth year in a row, maintaining their undefeated winning streak since SLAC began hosting the middle school competition in 2022. The winning teams from Joaquin Miller Middle School and Fusion Academy will both compete at the National Science Bowl April 24 through 28 in Washington, D.C.
“We’re excited to represent our region at Nationals next month,” said Joaquin Miller coach Heather Simonovich.
Stoking individual strengths for team triumph
Fusion Academy’s win in the high school event came despite tough competition from Lynbrook High School, last year’s champion, and Palo Alto High School, who took second and third place, respectively. Javid credits Fusion Academy’s success to the school’s one-on-one education model, which prioritizes personalized learning that allows students to focus on their strengths, combined with their team’s emphasis on collaboration in each round.
“Our students stayed composed under pressure and worked together seamlessly, building on each other’s strengths,” said Javid, who coached the team with Allyson Finch. “They approached every challenge with strategic thinking and determination, and it was inspiring to watch them excel.”
El Camino High School was voted the winners of the Good Sport Award, which recognizes team spirit and goodwill. Coach Toni Rose Bernabe believes their encouraging attitude drew in the votes.
“I noticed how supportive they were of one another,” said Bernabe, a math and AP Physics Teacher at El Camino High. “They gave each other advice, praised each other when they got the correct answer and reassured each other after a wrong response.”
The team is also proud of themselves for qualifying for the elimination rounds for the first time in three years of competing, which may be because they practiced with a homemade buzzer system this year, Bernabe said.
Continuing a winning streak
SLAC Lab Director John Sarrao provided opening remarks at the middle school event, which was held Mar. 1 and managed by Carmen Lau, regional coordinator at SLAC, and Greg Ng, regional co-coordinator at SLAC. Sarrao also presented awards at the event, at which a total of 28 teams competed, including five newcomers: Bayside Academy, Challenger School - Shawnee, Merryhill School 1074, Rancho Milpitas Middle School and the Nueva Middle School.
This year’s winning school was no stranger to the Science Bowl. Joaquin Miller Middle won for the fourth year in a row and have won 10 times since the school began competing in 2011.
March 14, 2024
Repeat winners reign at the Regional Science Bowl
Lynbrook High School and Joaquin Miller Middle School won the competition to move on to Nationals.
Simonovich, a sixth grade math and science teacher at Joaquin Miller, said the team performed very well throughout the day, despite a loss during the first round after lunch. She attributes the team’s success to the time they spent studying and practicing with high school students.
“The experience of the high school students helped our team know what to expect and how to excel,” Simonovich said.
Westborough Middle won the Good Sport Award. Their coach, Corinna Low, a science teacher and science department chair at the school, said the team’s main goals were to have fun and meet other students interested in STEM, which allowed them to exude friendliness, encouragement and kindness toward their competitors.
“Only one team will have the joy of victory at regionals, so for all the other teams we hope that there are moments that they can have a laugh over, like a really bad answer, a funny comment or fun times at lunch,” Low said. “Those memories are what we look back fondly on after all our years participating and still have us laughing.”
Just like Low’s team that won the Good Sport Award in 2023, this year’s team wore their medals to school with pride the following Monday. Low has coached the Science Bowl team at Westborough since they began competing in 2012, and she looks forward to catching up with the coaches, coordinators and volunteers every year.
“It requires a great deal of time, effort and funding to plan and organize, and it is thanks to all the volunteers that we get to have a supercharged day of science and math fun,” Low said. “We very much appreciate that SLAC opens its doors for all the teams and that they let us tour their facilities. It gives the teams something special to look forward to and inspires careers in STEM.”
A total of 130 volunteers supported the high school and middle school events. The Ray Ng SLAC Cares Science Bowl Volunteer Award was given to Rohan Bhowmik at the high school event and to Tracy Chalmers, head of institutional communications at SLAC, at the middle school event to recognize the commitment of these volunteers to SLAC’s values of excellence, integrity, collaboration, respect and creativity.
“Science Bowl has been my most satisfying volunteer activity at SLAC,” said Ralph Kerwin, senior fire protection engineer at SLAC and longtime Regional Science Bowl volunteer. “I always enjoy the enthusiasm of the teams participating in this time-honored STEM competition.”
The DOE Office of Science manages the National Science Bowl and sponsors the finals competition.
For questions or comments, contact SLAC Strategic Communications & External Affairs at communications@slac.stanford.edu.
About SLAC
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory explores how the universe works at the biggest, smallest and fastest scales and invents powerful tools used by researchers around the globe. As world leaders in ultrafast science and bold explorers of the physics of the universe, we forge new ground in understanding our origins and building a healthier and more sustainable future. Our discovery and innovation help develop new materials and chemical processes and open unprecedented views of the cosmos and life’s most delicate machinery. Building on more than 60 years of visionary research, we help shape the future by advancing areas such as quantum technology, scientific computing and the development of next-generation accelerators.
SLAC is operated by Stanford University for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.
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