Regional Science Bowl scheduled next weekend

| February 11, 2017 12:00 AM

Kootenai County students will be competing in the regional Science Bowl next Saturday in Spokane. The winners will move on to the National Science Bowl in Washington, D.C., at the end of April.

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s National Science Bowl (NSB) 2017 marks the 27th NSB, which the DOE Office of Science launched to interest today’s youths in pursuing careers in science and math.

The winner of the regional competition next week will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to compete in the Office of Science’s National Science Bowl from April 27 to May 1.

At the finals, winning teams can score exciting adventure trips to Alaska and national parks across the country to learn first-hand about science in the field — as well as trophies, medals, and supplies for their schools' science departments. But to many, the ultimate prize simply would be the prestige of winning the national championship.

Competing for Kootenai County are the Coeur d’Alene Scholastic Team from Coeur d’Alene High School, the Timberwolves Scholastic Team from Lake City High School, the Quiz Bowl Team from Post Falls High School, the Quiz team from Timberlake High School, the Science Bowl Team from Lakeland High School and Coeur d’Alene Charter Team One and Coeur d’Alene Charter Team Two from the Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy.

Today, the NSB draws more than 14,000 middle- and high-school competitors. Approximately 265,000 students have faced off in the NSB Finals since the first competition in 1991. The knowledge that former NSB competitors have acquired have led them to success in a variety of fields.

Many have become researchers; others are science and math professors at some of our some of our nation's most prestigious universities.

While those career paths might seem intuitive, the math and science knowledge students need to be successful in the NSB also can lead to successful careers in other fields. The 2017 NSB competitors will follow in the footsteps of previous National Science Bowl contestants, and will blaze a trail for students in science, math and engineering for the next quarter-century.