Two Clark County teams prepare for National Science Bowl
Question: What genus of bacteria uses horizontal gene transfer to cause tumors in plants?
The Meadows School’s Science Bowl team should know.
Starting today, five high school students from The Meadows and five students from Hyde Park Middle School’s Academy of Math and Sciences will compete in the four-day National Science Bowl in Washington, D.C.
The teams qualified after winning the regional science bowl in February and taking home $5,000 for their schools’ science departments.
(By the way, the answer is agrobacterium and is from the National Science Bowl’s high school sample questions.)
The U.S. Energy Department started the competition in 1991 to promote math and science education. Questions are multiple choice and short answer, with teams buzzing in to respond.
Nevada has never won the competition. California, Virginia, Texas and Indiana have won multiple times in either high school or middle school competitions.
“We have some really smart students this year and a really smart team captain,” said Karen Bleifuss, a Meadows science teacher who supervises the team.
Bleifuss said she hopes her team, which includes three students who competed last year, makes it to the top 16. The top 16 high schools win $1,000.
The team that places first in the high school competition will win a nine-day science trip to Alaska. The second place team wins a five-day trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.
Sixty-eight high schools and 48 middle schools — 14,500 students in all — will compete this year.
Meadows students start preparing for the bowls in October, practicing questions and protocol. They meet three days each week after school and outside of school as well.
Amy Wetjen, a Hyde Park science teacher, said her class also meets after school.
The kids are very excited,” Wetjen said. “They met over spring break and studied a couple of times.”
Hyde Park has won the Nevada regional three out of four years. In 2011, they placed ninth in the nation. Two of its team members competed last year.
“These kids are highly motivated,” Wetjen said. “They met over the summer when they didn’t place as high as they wanted to in the national competition. They met for an hour every single week.”
Among their lessons: Go to sleep earlier.
In the middle school category, the top three teams will win trophies, and the top eight will take home $1,000. Middle school teams will build model electric cars, and the best design and fastest car will win $500.
“I think I’m more excited than the kids,” Bleifuss said. “They’re old hat at it. I’m a nervous wreck.”
Contact reporter Kristy Totten at ktotten@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3809. Find her on Twitter: @kristy_tea.
