Brookings students compete at National Science Bowl Tournament

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 juniors Joseph Michna and Waylon Lowe, sophomore Shaurya Sehgal, and freshmen Kerrick Zhang and Grant Tellekson 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 5 a.m. on a Thursday morning for an 8 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 U.S. 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 placed fifth in their eight-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:

• Joseph: Getting to be in a room with so many students who are smarter than me and getting to know some new people who have similar interests and I really enjoyed hanging out with my friends for the weekend and learning more about them.
• Waylon: Trying new foods and drinks, like new ice cream flavors and coconut milk. I also liked visiting the National Mall for the first time, learning from scientists, and meeting competitors from all over the country, from Puerto Rico to Arkansas. Overall it was a great time!
• Shaurya: Meeting with other students who are just as interested in science as me and learning new things from them. I also enjoyed visiting the U.S. Capitol building to see the many statues and paintings inside and learn the history and backstories of the many artifacts there.
• Kerrick: My favorite part of this trip was definitely reconnecting with other friends around the country that I had met in previous competitions like MathCounts. Its just really nice to watch and talk to people across the country that show a high caliber byproduct of what theyre interested in. Another highlight for me had to be touring the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. I really liked seeing the exact replicas of the space shuttles and planes of historic events up close in actual perspective.
• Grant: Going to the American History Museum and the Science Day presentation.
• 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.