SPOKANE, Wash. — With a last-minute save, the Pullman High School team won the first ever Department of Energy Spokane Science Bowl, held March 9 at Washington State University Spokane. The team now heads to the national competition in Washington, D.C., set for May 3-6.
Science Bowl is an academic competition among teams of students who answer questions from several academic disciplines including astronomy, biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics and earth, and computer and general science. Each team includes four students, one alternate and a teacher or coach.
Pullman High School defeated one of the two Shadle Park teams twice in the final round of the double-elimination competition, winning the first match 76-26. Behind 36-40 in the second match, Pullman successfully answered a toss-up question worth 4 points, tying the competition. They had to answer this short-answer mathematics bonus question in 20 seconds to win:
“If the sine of theta equals the square root of 3 divided by 2, and theta terminates in Quadrant II of the Cartesian coordinate system, in a unit circle find the cosine of theta.”
The answer: -1/2.
Pullman High School first-place team: LiYang Chen, David Kahn, Chad Tang, Erin McCullough, and Lisa Volkening; Barbara Harding, coach.
Shadle Park runner-up team: Dan Schultheis, Dan Suess, Josiah Greene, and Nathan Bruneau; Steve Klopsch, coach.
North Central Sportsmanship team: Steve Himes, Will McGinty, Mark Lockwood, Jacob Prosser, and Caleb Kytonen; Brent Osborn, coach.
All-star individual students (those answering the most toss-up questions): LiYang Chen, Pullman High School; Dan Suess, Shadle Park; and David McInnis, Shadle Park.
The National Science Bowl was created by the U.S. Department of Energy to offer students who excel in math and science, and the teachers who have prepared them, a forum to receive national recognition for their talent and hard work. For more information, see National Science Bowl .
Teams interested in entering next year’s Spokane Science Bowl may contact Beth Perry, (509) 588-3901, bperry@owt.com.
Local supporters of the Spokane Science Bowl include Washington State University and Texas Instruments, premium level; U.S. DOE Office of River Protection, U.S. DOE Richland Operations Office, and Washington State University Spokane, gold level; INTEC, Itron, and SIRTI, silver level; the Area Health Education Center at WSU Spokane and Kaiser Aluminum, bronze level; and Spokane Teachers Credit Union, sponsors of the traveling trophy.
