Lincolnshire junior high students headed to national science bowl
For the eighth time in the last nine years, the Academic Science Bowl team from Wright Junior High School in Lincolnshire is headed to the national tournament.
It's the sixth consecutive year the team will compete against middle school science buffs from around the country in the National Science Bowl. Last year, the Wright squad won a round-robin competition at the event and placed fifth overall.
Lincolnshire-Prairie View School District 103 Superintendent Scott Warren is understandably proud of the team.
"They continue the legacy of effort and team work that has proved successful year after year," Warren said. "Our amazing students, coaches and supportive parents are the recipe for this success."
The National Science Bowl will be held in April in Washington, D.C. Sponsored by the U.S. Energy Department, the competition resembles a quiz show.
The Wright team consists of eighth-graders Deepak Salian, Rishabh Wuppalapati and Dev Ganguli and seventh-graders Vedant Rathi and Akshansh Chauhan. They're coached by Katie Yan and Tony Hafner.
The team won a regional tournament Saturday in Oswego to qualify for the national competition.
"The team did a phenomenal job," Yan said in a news release. "I am so proud of this group for their hard work and perseverance."
A Wright team has not yet won the main national Science Bowl, but the team did take first place in an electric car competition at the 2012 event and a fuel cell car design competition and a fuel cell car race at the 2007 event.