National Science Bowl ®

University High School science bowl team pictured above, winners of the regional National Science Bowl competition at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This group of students will represent the Southern California region at the National Science Bowl Championships in Chevy Chase, Md. The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Science Bowl is a nationwide academic competition that tests students' knowledge in all areas of science. Competing teams from diverse backgrounds are composed of four students, one alternate and a teacher who serves as an advisor and coach. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The National Science Bowl®, coordinated by the Department of Energy, is a round robin/double elimination tournament that challenges high school students with questions about chemistry, biology, physics, mathematics and astronomy, as well as general, earth and computer science. This past year over 20,000 students participated in 105 regional competitions at both the high school and middle school levels, and winners from each of these events received an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C., on April 25-29, 2013, to compete in the National Science Bowl finals.

The National Science Bowl is the nation's largest science competition, and is the only one sponsored by a federal agency. The high school competition has been in existence for 22 years and has seen the participation of nearly 200,000 students. The 2013 Regional Science Bowl was held Saturday, February 2, 2013, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Twenty-four teams of students and coaches from local high schools participated in the event. The competition was won by University High School when they defeated Arcadia High School (2nd place) in a closely contested race. Third place went to Santa Monica High School. The Sportsmanship Award went to Maranatha High School.

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