Minnesota Academy of Science
8700 West 36th Street, Suite 114W
St. Louis, Park 55426
(952) 545-6789
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Minnetonka Middle School West 2010 Science Bowl Champion
Will
compete in National Finals in Washington, D.C.
St.
Paul, MN – Minnetonka Middle
School West-Team 2 defeated Hopkins North Middle School-Team 1
to win the championship of Minnesota Academy of Science’s Minnesota State
Regional Science Bowl for Middle School Students at University of St.
Thomas-School of Engineering on February 13.
Minnetonka Middle School West-Team 2 finished third in the daylong
science and mathematics academic competition.
A total of 95 students from 19 teams from 10 schools participated
in the tournament. A fierce Round Robin
competition was waged, with 11 teams winning 2 or more of the 4 games they each
played. After lunch, Lake Harriet Upper School and St. Thomas More Catholic
School competed in a tie-breaking round to determine which of them would join 7
other teams in the Double Elimination.
The match to watch in the Double Elimination was Blake Middle School vs.
Hopkins North Junior High. Both teams were new this year and both had done very
well in the Round Robin winning (respectively) 3 and 4 of the games they played
in that tournament. Their first match in the Round Robin resulted in a win for
Hopkins, but just a slight win of 110 over 102. They met again in the first
round of the Double Elimination, with Hopkins North winning again. Their final
match in the Double Elimination would advance one of
them to the top 3 spots for the day and eliminate the other. After 20 minutes
of back and forth the teams were extremely close. But finally, the winner
was... Hopkins. Congratulations Blake Middle School on an
amazing effort.
Participating for their second year, Minnetonka Middle School West sent 2 teams
to the Double Elimination. Both teams won repeated rounds and finally squared
off against each other. Tied as the final buzzer rang, the last question was
read and the winning answer came from a Minnetonka 2 team member who said he
knew the answer because he had been reading about the Doppler effect just the night
before. Minnetonka Team 1 went on to play Hopkins and lost that round but won
3rd place!
While every school approaches building their teams differently, the Minnetonka
coach said they don't stack their strongest players in one team,
they build their teams for balance so they all have a chance to win. When asked
if the two Minnetonka teams were competitive amongst each other, a parent of
two team members said the students had great camaraderie and were very well
matched. "No matter what happens, it's a win for all of us," she
said.
Hopkins faced Minnetonka Team 2 in the last scheduled round. Hopkins had won
all but one of their games in the Double Elimination tournament; Minnetonka 2
had won all of theirs. When Hopkins North won this round that
meant that both teams now had one loss under their belts. That meant
that for the first time in Middle School Bowl history, they needed to play a
special final elimination round.
Tension was high in the room, as the sun began to set outside. Eight minutes in
to the final round when the teams took a quick break, Hopkins was ahead by only
4 points (12 to 8). And finally, as the last buzzer sounded, the winner of the
round, and a trip to the National Science Bowl competition in Washington, DC
was Minnetonka Middle School West Team 2! Congratulations to Hopkins North
Junior High for a strong second place showing.
Minnetonka Middle School West, Team 2,
coached by Mitchell Elvebak , won 1st place and a trip to Washington DC to compete in
the National Science Bowl.
Hopkins North
Junior High Team 1, coached by David Beckman, took 2nd place.
Minnetonka Middle
School West, Team 1, also coached by Mitchell Elvebak , won 3rd place.
Congratulations to Field Community School (Minneapolis) Team 1 for winning the
Middle School Civility Award for their excellent sportsmanship.
Teams 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)
The Minnesota
State Regional Science Bowl for High School Students is a program of the
Minnesota Academy of Science. The
Minnesota Academy of Science supports Minnesota
scientists at every stage of their development, providing a vital forum for
scientific inquiry and discussion that reaches thousands of Minnesotans
annually. The event was sponsored
by generous contributions from Ecolab, General Mills, Great River Energy and
University of St. Thomas-School of Engineering.
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
Manager U.S.
Dept. of Energy www.scied.science.doe.gov/nsb/
Minnesota
Academy of Science
lwarbritton@mnmas.org