Brookings students compete at National Science Bowl tournament

BROOKINGS Is science your forte? Well, it is for these students.

Five Brookings students won the South Dakota Regional Science Bowl in February, earning an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C. to compete at the national tournament sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. Sixty-seven teams came from 46 states, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico to compete at the national level during the last weekend of April. There were also 48 middle school teams who competed in their own division nationally.

At the regional tournament in Huron, Brookings seniors Vanessa An, Nancy Yang, Cole Knutzen and Sampada Nepal, along with sophomore Mallory Wells, represented Brookings High School. Ronda Kantack, BHS Quiz Bowl adviser, was their coach and traveled to both competitions with the students. The team was undefeated, earning the title of regional champions to move on to the national tournament.

The trip to Washington, D.C., began at 3 a.m on a Thursday morning for a 6 a.m. flight out of Sioux Falls. After a day of travel, the BHS students toured the Udvar-Hazy National Air and Space Museum just outside of D.C. On Friday, students attended various Department of Energy presentations by National Laboratory personnel in the field of artificial intelligence. Later, all the teams competed in a Design Team Challenge a lab experiment that would be graded and used to break any ties for the Science Bowl competition. Brookings was the top team in their nine-team division for the lab experiment challenge.

On Saturday, all the high school teams were bussed to the National Mall in D.C. to tour various museums and the U.S. Capitol.

The national tournament took place on Sunday and the Brookings team placed fifth in their bracket; had they placed fourth, they would have advanced to the double elimination tournament. Final rounds took place on Monday, followed by a long day traveling home.

The Brookings team and their coach thoroughly enjoyed their trip to the National Science Bowl and reported the following highlights:

• Vanessa: Making up the best poses for pictures with my teammates and visiting the Natural History Museum, where I got to see many organisms in real life that I had seen in my textbooks.
• Nancy: The National Mall, specifically the Capitol tour! It was surreal to actually be in the Capitol, knowing that I was in the building where Congress does all their supposed work (especially since one of my main extracurriculars is Student Congress). Also, playing Mario Kart with everyone in the hotel lobby!
• Cole: My biggest highlights were visiting the Museum of Natural History and walking around the Capitol. Also, I enjoyed playing games like pool and ping pong during our free time.
• Sampada: Winning the Design Team Challenge using the power of friendship! I also enjoyed making a big pillow fort in the hotel lounge area with the team.
• Mallory: Building a pillow fort the last night because it felt like a relief after all the competing we did. And the Team Challenge was surprisingly a lot of fun. Turns out we all work really well together!
• Ronda (coach): Watching the team compete in the tournament and enjoy the tours. Getting to know the students a little better. Also, meeting and networking with coaches and students from all over the country.