Regional Competitions Begin - 2007 National Science Bowl

It's that time of year ... the regional championships for this year's National Science Bowl are starting up. The National Science Bowl is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and is the largest competition of its kind in the United States. More than 17,000 students, of middle school & high school age, representing 42 states take part in the National Science Bowl every year, where they are tested in a fast-pace question style on all areas of science and math.

Each team consists of 4 students, an alternate, and a teacher/coach. Teams that win one of the 98 regional competitions (67 for high school & 31 for middle school) get an all-expense-paid trip to their category's National Finals:

• High School National Finals
  April 26-30, 2007
  Washington, DC

• Middle School National Finals
  June 21-24, 2007
  Denver, CO

The high school champion team will win a choice of three science-related trips, possibly to France or Australia. The middle school national champion team wins a cash prize and sponsor-supplied gifts. All finalists and participants, of course, get to pad their college application with a fine extra curricular activity.

This year, in addition to the question and answer competition, there is a Hydrogen Fuel Cell Model Car Challenge, sponsored by DOE and General Motors. Supervised by engineers, the students will design, build, and race their own model cars for a chance to win a cash prize and even greater bragging rights.

If you or a student you know are interested in science, then the National Science Bowl and other science competitions are a great way to get started learning and working in the field that interests you.