Close Competition at 2000 Arizona Regional Science Bowl

PHOENIX -- By correctly answering the final bonus question Mountain View High School from Mesa, Ariz. captured top honors at the Arizona Regional Science Bowl, Feb. 14.  Mountain view will send a team to the U.S. Department of Energy National Science® Bowl May 5-8 in Washington, D.C., for the second year in a row.

Fourteen teams of local high school students tackled tough questions vying for the honor at representing the state at the national competition.  Mountain View took first place on the last question after remaining undefeated throughout the competition.  Members of the first place team coached by Jeanne Evenson were: Mike A. Strauskas, Amanda Hunt, Mindy Martin, Captain Sterling Nesbitt and Roberto Sirvent.  For the fourth year in a row, second place went to Centennial High School, from Peoria, Ariz.  Third place was won by Chaparral High School of Scottsdale, Ariz., which competed with a team of only three students.  The fourth place team was Mountain Pointe High School from Phoenix.

The top four teams received $300 for use by their school science department.  The first place team members also received family passes to the Arizona Science Center.

The National Science Bowl is an academic competition among teams of high school students. Since the program began in 1991, it has brought together more than 60,000 high school mathematics and science students—as well as their teachers—from across the country. The program is designed to encourage students and their teachers to achieve educational excellence in the sciences. Competing teams are quizzed on scientific topics in biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, earth science, computer science and mathematics.