Junior School Team at the CT Regional Science Quiz Bowl

On Saturday February 10, Hopkins participated in the CT Regional Middle School Science Bowl tournament at Smith Middle School in Glastonbury. National Science Bowl is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and has teams facing off in a fast-paced question-and-answer format, being tested on a range of science disciplines including biology, chemistry, Earth science, physics, energy, and math. The CT Regional competition brought together 25 teams from middle schools around the state for an intense day of competition. The morning consisted of a round robin format with teams divided into four divisions (cleverly named after the four scientists Arrhenius, Bohr, Curie and Darwin). The top 16 teams then advanced to a double elimination championship tournament in the afternoon. 

Hopkins fielded two competition teams, coached by Jen Stauffer and Kristen Abraham, consisting of 10 junior schoolers. The Maroon team consisted of Aaliya Panyadahundi ‘28 (Captain), Ravi Camenga ‘28, Arjun DiLuna ‘28, Luannie Wang ‘28 and Jonathan Zhou ‘28. The Gray team was Keegan Slovinski ‘28 (Captain), Michael Batsu ‘28, Advay Garg ‘28, Maanya Pathak ‘28 and Elaine Zhou ‘29.

In the six matches of the morning round robin tournament, the Maroon team competing in the Arrhenius division went 5-1 and accumulated 1224 points. The Gray team competing in the Curie division went 2-4 and accumulated 731 points. After strong morning performances, both teams qualified for the double elimination championship bracket! The Maroon team was seeded #3 and the Gray team was seeded #14. 

If you’re familiar with a typical 16 team bracket like the one used by the NCAA with March Madness, you will anticipate what happened next… the #3 seed faces off with the #14. This meant that Hopkins Maroon faced Hopkins Gray for their first afternoon match! It was close and competitive with Maroon coming out ahead. Thankfully the tournament was double elimination, so Gray got to keep competing! The Gray team won their next match against Whisconier, but then lost to Talcott to be eliminated from the tournament. After their defeat of the Gray team, the Maroon team won their next two matches. They were dealt their first loss in the afternoon by Irving Robbins #1 team. However, they had a chance to get back in and play for the championship in a match against Central. Unfortunately, the Maroon team lost this match 90-62. 

The U.S. Department of Energy is flying the winning team Irving A. Robbins of Farmington, to Nationals in Washington D.C. where they will compete against the other 49 winning regional teams across the nation. Overall the Hopkins Maroon team finished 3rd in the state! Congratulations to all the students involved on their excellent play!

Hopkins Maroon

Round Robin #1 - Win against Central (94-80)

Round Robin #2 - Win against Mansfield 3 (110-12)

Round Robin #3 - Win against Talcott 2 (94-52)

Round Robin #4 - Loss against Irving Robbins 1 (138-74)

Round Robin #5 - Win against Hillcrest 1 (110-42)

Round Robin #6 - Win against East Lyme 2 (124-26)

Tournament Round #1 - Win against Hopkins Gray (82-52)

Tournament Round #2 - Win against Irving Robbins 2 (94-30)

Tournament Round #3 - Win against Central (82-56)

Tournament Round #4 - Loss against Irving Robbins 1 (94-30)

Tournament Round #5 - Loss against Central (90-62)

Hopkins Gray

Round Robin #1 - Win against Eastern 2 (64-52)

Round Robin #2 - Win against W Johnston (120-26)

Round Robin #3 - Loss against Mansfield 1 (88-44)

Round Robin #4 - Loss against East Lyme 1 (94-30)

Round Robin #5 - Loss against Irving Robbins 2 (116-76)

Round Robin #6 - Loss against Talcott 1 (66-44)

Tournament Round #1 - Loss against Hopkins Maroon (82-52)

Tournament Round #2 - Win against Whisconier (84-30)

Tournament Round #3 - Loss against Talcott 1 (76-36)