LHS students headed to regional Science Bowl
Courtesy LHS students heading to the Big Sky Regional Science Bowl competition include, from left, Daniel Webster, Nick Reny, Chelsey Oedewaldt, Levi Neubauer and Liz Rogers.
A group of five science club students will represent Libby High School at the 18th annual Big Sky Regional Science Bowl competition on Feb. 20 in Billings, adviser Jasper Howell announced.
Seniors Levi Neubauer, Chelsey Oedewaldt and Nick Reny along with juniors Elizabeth Rogers and Daniel Webster qualified for the competition by turning in the top five scores through a testing process.
“We had some practice competitions, did some studying this week and had to take a big test that kind of covered everything that would be at the state competition,” Howell said last week. “It’s a pretty quality group; we had some other studious kids that tried and just missed it.”
This is the first year that local students are participating in the Science Bowl.
The club started last year with two teams of students that took part in the Montana Envirothon in Lewistown. Howell said the club is branching out.
“We have a dozen or so kids that are pretty involved with the Science Club,” said Howell, who also identifies himself as van driver. “We do a lot of extracurricular stuff at LHS and it gets more kids fired up about science and things.”
The club includes students that have an interest in various types of experiments, including Lego robotics.
Howell and the five students will go on an overnight trip for the Feb. 20 event. After arriving at 7 p.m., the previous evening, they will get up early on that Saturday morning to compete at the Billings Hotel and Convention Center. The competition features both Montana and northern Wyoming high schools, as well as home-schooled students and youth clubs.
The tournament format opens with a round-robin style approach during the morning with the high-scoring teams advancing to a double-elimination game in the afternoon. Team members work together to quickly and accurately answer toss-up and bonus questions while following a strict set of rules. Although teams can include five students, only four can play at any one time.
The top team will earn an all-expenses-paid trip to compete at the National Science Bowl held at the National 4-H Center in Chevy Chase, Md., just outside of Washington, D.C.
Howell said that if any of the five students that qualified are unable to participate, there are two alternates waiting in the wings.