Five middle school students from St. Patrick’s School in Perry traveled to the Iowa State University campus in Ames Feb. 20 in order to compete in the Iowa Regional Middle School Science Bowl.
“Only 24 teams are selected to attend on a first-come, first-serve basis,” said St. Pat’s Middle School math and science teacher Tony Cosentino. “After being number seven on a waiting list, our prayers were answered, and we were selected to attend.”
St. Pat’s students attending the science bowl competition were eighth graders Beyonce Gonzalez and Bree Martin, seventh grader Riese Archer and sixth graders David Roberts and Khyler Carstarphen.
The tournament is organized as a round robin, with the top two teams advancing to bracket play.
“Unfortunately, we did not advance out of pool play,” Cosentino said. “I would say we competed against the top science bowl teams in the state. The St. Pat’s team even faced the defending champs from Ames Middle School and put up a valiant effort. I was really happy with our performance.”
Science bowl questions tested students’ knowledge in subjects ranging from earth science, biology and astronomy to physics, chemistry, applied mathematics and others.
“I have to admit, some of the questions I remember learning in high school and college,” Cosentino said. “I think this was a good learning experience for our middle schoolers.”
Cosentino always gave “a shout out to our parents for making this opportunity possible.”
A complete list of competing teams and results can be found at the Science Bowl website. The science contests are jointly sponsored by the Ames Laboratory at ISU and the U.S. Department of Energy.
