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Venice High School and Santa Monica School Teams Leave This Week for National Science Bowl

Posted on: Tuesday, 26 April 2005, 12:00 CDT

The five-member Venice High School and Santa Monica High School Science Bowl teams leave this week to participate at the U.S. Department of Energy National Science Bowl program in Washington, D.C. April 28 to May 2. The teams will compete in the prestigious event, in a field of 63 regional championship teams from 40 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Venice is the champion of the LADWP Science Bowl, covering the city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Unified School District. Santa Monica, the champion of the regional competition at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), covers Los Angeles areas outside of the city and LAUSD.

"As a father of two children in Los Angeles public schools, I believe that supporting our schools and educational opportunities for our kids is crucial," said Los Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn. "The regional championship teams represent the best high school science scholars from the Los Angeles area. I commend these kids for their dedication, and wish them the best of luck in the National Science Bowl."

LADWP regional championship teams have the best record at the National Science Bowl compared to any other area or region in the nation. The teams have won four national titles and placed in the top five teams eight of the past 10 years.

"We are proud of the success of the regional championship teams and wish them well at the National Science Bowl. Our volunteers and staff are consistently amazed at how much complex science and math content the students have mastered," said LADWP General Manager Ronald Deaton.

This year marks the fifth time that Venice High School is competing in the National Science Bowl as the regional champion of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) Science Bowl. The school won two national titles in 1996 and 1997. Other teams from the LADWP Science Bowl that have won national titles are Van Nuys High School in 1995 and North Hollywood High School in 2001.

Science Bowl is a competition that follows the game-show format of the old GE College Bowl television series. Two teams of four students (each with an alternate team member) answer toss-up and bonus questions asked by a moderator. In Science Bowl all the questions cover college level subjects such as physics, chemistry, earth and space, science, calculus, trigonometry and computer programming.

This year 12,000 students in 1800 schools participated in the 63 regional qualifying competitions throughout the nation. The U.S. Department of Energy created the National Science Bowl in 1991 to encourage high school students of all backgrounds to excel in math and science and to pursue careers in these fields.

LADWP Science Bowl is one in a series of educational partnerships sponsored by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power that also includes the Youth Service Academy, for "at-risk" students, Adopt-A-Schools and the Teacher Workshops Series. Further information about LADWP Education Programs can be received by logging into www.ladwp.com and click on Community and Safety.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has provided utility services to residents and businesses of the city for more than a century. It is the nation's largest municipally owned utility.

Source: Business Wire

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