Minnesota Academy of Science
8700 West 36th Street, Suite 114W
St. Louis, Park 55426
(952) 545-6789
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
St. Paul Central High School Team Wins
MN
State Regional Science Bowl for High School Students
Will compete in National Finals in Washington, D.C.
St. Paul, MN
– St. Paul Central High
School won
the Minnesota Academy of Science’s 15th Annual Minnesota State
Regional Science Bowl for High School Students on Friday, January 21, 2009. They competed against 26 other teams of high
school science and math students representing high schools from across the state
of Minnesota.
The event was the regional competition
for the U.S, Department of Energy’s National Science Bowl for High School
Students. The St. Paul Central High School’s
five winning team members and their coach received a team trophy, individual
medals, a $1,000 check for their school science department and an all-expense-paid
trip to Washington, D.C. to compete against 66 other regional
winners in the DOE National Science Bowl finals, April 30 – May 5, 2009. The Minnesota
State Regional Science Bowl for High School Students is sponsored by generous
contributions from Ecolab, General Mills, Great River Energy and Macalester College.
Twenty-seven
teams representing 14 different high schools from around the state participated
in an exciting round robin competition where three teams remained undefeated (Blake Upper
School Team 1, Chaska Team 1, and St. Paul Central Team 1). The competition was close with six teams tied
at the end of the Round Robin. Tiebreakers
were needed to determine the top 12 teams that moved on to the Double
Elimination portion of the event.
The winning team at the end of the tournament was St. Paul Central
High School Team 1, coached by Randy Knoche. Second
place went to Wayzata High School Team 1, coached by Karen Hibbs. They second
place team won individual medals and a check for $750 for their school science
department. Burnsville Team 1,
coached by Dr. Jennifer Hugstad-Vaa, took 3rd place
honors with individual medals and a $500 check for their school science
department.
Central
High School Team 2 won 4th place, Chaska High School Team 1 and Mankato West High
School Team 1 tied for 5th place, Coon Rapids High School team 1 and Academy of
Holy Angels Team 1 tied for 6th place, and 7th place went to Chaska High School
Team 2, Blake Upper School Team 1, and Blake Upper School Team 2.
This year's competition saw 17 out of 27 teams nominated for the Civility
Award, a record number! The Civility
Award is presented to the coach and team, which best represents the positive
aspects of competition, whether winning or losing. Congratulations to St. Paul Academy
and Summit School - Team 3 who won the award this year.
1st Place
- St. Paul Central Team 1
2nd Place
- Wayzata High School
3rd Place
- Burnsville Team 1
Civility Award - St.
Paul Academy and Summit School
Team 3
This
is the second year in a row that a team from St. Paul Central
High School has won the
competition. In fact, three of the
current team members were on the winning team from last year. Additional information about last year’s team can be found
in an article published by the Minneapolis
Star Tribune on February 8, 2008. http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/15129171.html?page=1&c=y The team has spent months preparing
for the event that features head-to-head competition in a fast-paced question
and answer format similar to the TV show, “Jeopardy.”
The students were quizzed on science disciplines including biology, chemistry,
earth science, physics and astronomy, as well as math. Most questions were so challenging even
educated scientists would have trouble finding the answer. Below is a sample question from a previous
year.
Question: For a circuit with a current of 3 amperes, operating for 5
minutes, how much charge, in coulombs, has gone by any point in the circuit?
Answer: 900 C
(Solution: DQ = 1 DT … Since coulombs is in seconds, convert 5 minutes into 300
seconds and multiply by 3 C/s = 900 C)
Photos can be downloaded from the Minnesota Academy of
Science web site. http://www.bowl.mnmas.org/sbArchives.asp
For more
information contact:
Lisa Warbritton MN Academy
of Science – www.mnmas.org
Science Bowl Coordinator U.S.
Dept. of Energy - www.scied.science.doe.gov/nsb/
Minnesota Academy of Science
lwarbritton@mnmas.org