Farmingdale takes first in BNL High School Science Bowl
Mount Sinai High School comes in a close second
Farmingdale High School students have one contest down to a science.
For the second consecutive year the team won the Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Long Island Regional High School Science Bowl in Upton on Saturday, Jan. 30. Now the students and their coach will head to Washington, D.C., on April 28 for the National Science Bowl finals. The teams were comprised of five students whose science and math knowledge were put to the test with a fast-paced jeopardy-style contest.
Farmingdale seniors Clarisse Baes, Ramin Chowdhury, Suraj Muralidharan, Jake Chammas and junior Hamza Malick beat out 19 teams for the top spot, including their toughest competitors, the Mount Sinai High School team, which came in second place. Their coach, Peter Macchia, an earth science teacher, said the team tried something new to prepare for this year’s Science Bowl competition.
“Instead of trying to win a trophy, they were preparing for college,” Macchia said. “So, they benefitted from studying together almost every day, and win or lose, they can now be successful in college.”
Coach Gina Sing led the Mount Sinai High School team to second place. The team included Andrew Rodriguez, Nick Eberhard, Danny O’Mara, Alexander Mule and Patrick Hanaj. Great Neck South and Lynbrook High School took third and fourth place, respectively.
While these three teams won’t get an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C., for the finals, the top 16 high school teams and top eight middle school teams in Nationals will win $1,000 to go toward their school’s science department. The National Finals in Washington, D.C., will be from April 28 to May 2.
BNL started hosting the LI Regional Competition for the National Science Bowl in 1991. U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said the Science Bowl “continues to be one of the premier academic competitions across the country, and prepares [American] students for future success in some of the world’s fastest growing fields in research and engineering.”
For more information about BNL’s Science Bowl, call 631-344-2345.
