NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

University High School of Irvine, Calif., won the 2013 Los Angeles Regional Science Bowl held at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, on Feb. 2, 2013. University's team members are: Kevin Lee, Jiho Park, Justin Wang, Carl Lundstedt and Kevin Chen (alternate). John Callas, the project manager of NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers at JPL, and June Lockhart, an actress who played starring roles in "Lassie" and "Lost in Space," helped present the awards. They are shown at far left and second from the right. At far right, with the trophy, is University's co-coach Shannon Bunch. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
› Larger image
› Browse version of image
Arcadia High School's Science Bowl team confers over an answer during the Los Angeles Regional Science Bowl held at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, on Feb. 2, 2013. Arcadia's team members ARE: Distin Lieu, Kevin Kha, Jerry Li, Christopher Chen and Donovan Lieu (alternate). Arcadia placed second out of 24 teams from Los Angeles, Orange and Santa Barbara Counties. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
› Browse version of image
University High School of Irvine buzzed their way to victory on Saturday, Feb. 2, in the Los Angeles regional round of the National Science Bowl competition at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Battling through questions about Saturn's moon Mimas, parallel-plate capacitors and hydrogen bonding in organic molecules, University earned 80 points in the final match against the second place team, Arcadia High School, which scored 24 points.

Santa Monica High School placed third out of the 24 teams from Los Angeles, Orange and Santa Barbara counties that gathered at JPL on Feb. 2. The sportsmanship award went to Maranatha High School of Pasadena for their exceptional graciousness with other teams and competition officials, spirit of fair play and enthusiasm for science.

Coordinated by the Department of Energy, the National Science Bowl quizzes students on biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and Earth and space sciences. The competition, which attracts about 20,000 middle and high school students nationwide, is designed to inspire students to pursue a career in science or math. The JPL regional high school competition has been in existence for 21 years.

The main prize for the winners of the regional competition is an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to compete in the National Science Bowl on April 25 to 29, 2013. Other prizes for University High School included a trophy, medals, winner's banner, a NASA backpack, calendars with space images and a toy version of NASA's Mars Curiosity rover. The main prize for the sportsmanship award winners is a trip to Catalina Island to visit the Wrigley Marine Science Center, part of USC's Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies.

More information on Science Bowl is available here: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/nsb.cfm.Jia-Rui C. Cook 818-354-0850
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
jccook@jpl.nasa.gov

2013-045