Brookhaven National Lab announces winners of 2021 High School Science Bowl

Brookhaven National Lab announces winners of 2021 High School Science Bowl

The first place Great Neck South High School team members, pictured from left, Matthew Tsui, David Wang, Anthony Zhan (team captain), Jansen Wong, Bradley He, and coach James Tuglio pose for a photo after winning first place in 2020.

Great Neck South High School earned the top spot in the Long Island Regional High School Science Bowl hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory on Saturday, Jan. 30.  

The winning team faced off virtually against 23 other teams from a total of 18 high schools in the regional competition, part of the DOE National Science Bowl® (NSB). The students tested their knowledge in areas including biology, chemistry, earth and space science, energy, mathematics and physics in the fast-paced question-and-answer tournament.  

The win marks the second consecutive year team members Anthony Zhan, Bradley He, Matthew Tsui, David Wang, and Jansen Wong secured first place for their school. 

“By having the same team for both years, you grow a lot as a team,” said team captain Zhan. “I think a big factor in our success was our team chemistry. We play really well as a team and as a group of friends.” 

For the first time since its establishment in 1991, the competition had to pivot to a virtual format. Teams competed remotely via video chat rooms ran by volunteer moderators, judges, and scorekeepers. After three preliminary rounds, 16 teams advanced to elimination rounds, in which Great Neck South outlasted the rest.

Mary Alexis Pace, coach to second place team The Wheatley School, acknowledged Brookhaven’s Office of Educational Programs (OEP) and volunteers for their hard work in organizing the regional competition.

“I am thankful Brookhaven Lab was able to make this competition work in such a strange year,” Pace said. “I know I speak for all of my students when I say that we truly appreciate the efforts that go into making this event happen.” 

Great Neck South will join the top teams from regional science bowls around the country in the National Science Bowl®, which will be held virtually throughout April and May 2021.  

Second place: Wheatley School–Viraj Jayan, Freddy Lin, Victor Li, and Avinash Reddy 

Third place: Ward Melville High School (team one)–Neal Carpino, Gabriel Choi, Matthew Chen, Ivan Ge, and Prisha Singhal 

Fourth place: Plainegde Senior High School–Aidan Andersen, Luke Andersen, Joseph Devlin, Matthew Garcia, and Tyler Ruvolo 

This year’s event also featured a Cybersecurity Challenge open to all Science Bowl students who did not compete in the final elimination rounds. Students worked individually to solve a cybersecurity-related puzzle and learn about Brookhaven’s cybersecurity efforts. Jacob Leshnower from Half Hollow Hills East took first place, Anant Srinivasan of Commack High School took second place, and Ishnaan Singh of Commack High School took third place.  

More about the Science Bowl  

In the 2021 Long Island Regional Science Bowl organized by Brookhaven Lab, all participating students received a Science Bowl t-shirt. Winning teams also received trophies and medals, and the top four high school teams received cash awards. Prizes were courtesy of Teachers Federal Credit Union and Brookhaven Science Associates (BSA), the event’s sponsors. BSA is the company that manages and operates Brookhaven Lab for DOE. 

The Long Island Regional Science Bowl is one of many educational opportunities organized by Brookhaven’s OEP. Every year, OEP holds science workshops, contests, internships, field trips, and more for students in kindergarten through graduate school. For more information on ways to participate in science education programs at Brookhaven Lab, visit the OEP website

More than 315,000 students have participated in NSB since it was established in 1991, and it is one of the nation’s largest science competitions. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science manages the NSB Finals competition. More information is available on the NSB website

Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science.

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