Science bowl team places second in regional competition
March 3, 2016
Eight students grip their buzzers and anxiously watch the blinking timer as the moderator reads the last question of the round. His words immediately spark recognition from a member of Harker’s team, who buzzes triumphantly. All eyes are on him as he begins to answer.
The upper school’s Science Bowl A team placed second in the Santa Clara County regional competition on Feb. 6 at Stanford University.
The A team, which consists of senior Jonathan Ma, juniors Venkat Sankar and Arjun Subramaniam and sophomores Rajiv Movva and Shaya Zarkesh, lost by six points to Lynbrook High School. The team maintained a good showing throughout the competition, having won all of its previous rounds.
“Lynbrook and Harker played incredibly well, and the entire day of the competition was just an incredibly rewarding experience regardless of the actual result in the end,” Jonathan said.
Science Bowl moderator and coordinator Mark Davidson found that the highlight of this year’s competition was the final match between Harker and Lynbrook’s A teams.
“This year was really exciting because the Lynbrook and Harker teams faced off against each other three times,” Davidson said. “Harker took the first one, and Lynbrook took the second two.”
The B team, which consists of sophomores Swapnil Garg and Derek Yen and freshmen Alexander Young, Kaushik Shivakumar and Leon Lu, was eliminated after the round robin tournaments, but the members of the team enjoyed the experience.
“The B team’s main job at the competition is to scout out the competition so that the A team can realize what their competition is like,” Leon said. “But I like the experience because you learn about different topics.”
Twenty-four teams from various schools in the Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties attended the competition. Teams were divided into groups of six, with each team playing every other team in its group in a round-robin tournament. The two teams from each group who won the most rounds advanced to a double elimination round.
Each round consists of two eight-minute halves, and four students from each school participate. During each half, a moderator asks four-point toss-up questions, which can be multiple choice or short answer. Any member of both teams may answer a toss-up question. For every correct toss-up question a team answers, the team is asked a ten-point bonus question. All members of the team collaborate and produce an answer. At the end of the round, the team with the most points wins.
The A and B teams were coached by chemistry teacher Robbie Korin and biology teacher Dr. Gary Blickenstaff. This year, both teams were able to participate due to an increase in the number of teams allowed.
“It’s an interesting way of having the kids participate in science in this kind of competitive arena,” Dr. Blickenstaff said. “A lot of [the students] have particular interest in some area.”
The national Science Bowl competition will take place from April 28 to May 2 in Washington, D.C.