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Calloway County High School's Mia Beth Morehead, coach, Landon Fike, Cody Bergman, Sam Morehead, Josh Betts, and Hudson Elliott

Lone Oak Middle School's Drew Schofield, David Dodd, David Perriello and Ethan Brown from Paducah, Kentucky, discuss a topic between rounds.

Josh Betts and Hudson Elliott of the Calloway County High School team

Lone Oak Middle School's Daniel Rushing, coach, Drew Schofield, David Dodd, David Perriello and Ethan Brown.

Calloway County High School advanced to the Sweet 16 in academic competition among nearly 70 high schools at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) 2014 National Science Bowl April 24-28 in Washington, DC.

The Murray-based squad placed second in its nine-team division with a 7-1 round-robin record, advancing to double-elimination. Team members are Landon Fike, Cody Bergman, Sam Morehead, Josh Betts, and Hudson Elliott.

“It was our first time to compete as a high school, so it was pretty exciting,” Calloway coach Mia Beth Morehead said.

Lone Oak Middle School competed academically and in the lithium ion battery-powered car contest. Work on the car included writing essays; compiling daily work logs, design schematics, and a tools and components list; and providing an overall perspective of what the team learned during the process. Team members are Drew Schofield, David Dodd, David Perriello, and Ethan Brown.

Calloway and Lone Oak competed at the nationals after winning their respective West Kentucky Regional Science Bowl competitions at West Kentucky Community & Technical College in Paducah in February. They received all-expense-paid trips to compete for the national title.

Four Calloway high school team members previously participated on various Calloway Middle School Science Bowl teams, which advanced to national competition three out of the last four years. Fike, senior captain of the high school team, last traveled to the National Science Bowl when he was an 8th grader on the middle school team.

“The (high school) competition was pretty intense,” Fike said, “but I’d say the most memorable thing is all the competitors’ getting to tour DC and see all the monuments and things.”

Teams toured various national monuments Friday night before spending much of Saturday at the Smithsonian Institution. Another Science Bowl highlight was talking to a scientist involved with DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, operated by Stanford University, Fike said.

With 68 high school and 48 middle school teams, the DOE National Science Bowl is the largest and most prestigious science competition of its type. Teams participate in fast-paced academic matches answering science, energy, and math questions. They also enjoy sightseeing and participate in cutting-edge science seminars and hands-on science activities.

 (Photos by Jack Dempsey, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science)

Information: http://science.energy.gov/wdts/nsb/