Junior School Team Place 3rd at Regional Science Bowl!

On Saturday, February 8, Hopkins participated in the Southern New England Middle School Regional 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. Individuals answer toss-up questions to earn the ability to try a collaborative team bonus question for additional points.  

The Southern New England Middle School competition brought together 30 teams from middle schools throughout Connecticut and Rhode Island 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). Each team had five matches in the morning where wins and overall score was considered to rank the teams overall performance. The top 16 teams then advanced to a double elimination championship tournament in the afternoon. 

Hopkins fielded a competition team, coached by science teachers Jen Stauffer and Kristen Abraham, consisting of Youyi Z. ‘29, Aidan K. ‘29, Maki S. ‘30, Jinghan L. ‘30, and Nathan L. ‘30.

In the five matches of the morning round robin tournament, the team was undefeated! This strong performance qualified the team for the double elimination championship bracket with the #4 seed. Hopkins won their first three matches of the championship tournament, defeating teams from Eastern Middle School in Greenwich, East Lyme Middle School and Westwoods Upper Elementary School in Farmington. Hopkins then faced off against Irving Robbins Middle School from Farmington and was dealt their first loss of the afternoon. Given it was double elimination Hopkins had another chance and faced Westwoods for a rematch in the auditorium. Unfortunately, Westwoods came out victorious this time and Hopkins was eliminated from the tournament. Westwoods went on to face Irving Robbins Middle School for the championship match. In a close competition, Irving A. Robbins Middle School came out on top. The U.S. Department of Energy pays for the winning team to compete against other winning regional teams across the nation at the National Tournament in April in Washington, D.C. 

Overall Hopkins finished 3rd in the state and had an impressive day of grueling competition. Congratulations to all the students involved on their excellent play!

Round Robin #1 - Win against East Lyme Middle School 1

Round Robin #2 - Win against Irving A. Robbins Middle School 2

Round Robin #3 - Win against RHAM Middle School 1

Round Robin #4 - Win against Western Middle School 2

Round Robin #5 - Win against Hillcrest Middle School 1

Tournament Round #1 - Win against Eastern Middle School 3 (70-12)

Tournament Round #2 - Win against East Lyme Middle School 1 (90-68)

Tournament Round #3 - Win against West Woods Middle School (52-40)

Tournament Round #4 - Loss against Irving A. Robbins Middle School (44-74)

Tournament Round #5 - Loss against West Woods Middle School (12-52)