Calloway County Middle School Advanced to the DOE National Science Bowl by winning the West Kentucky Regional tournament Feb. 18.
Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office
February 28, 2022
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PADUCAH, Ky. — Calloway County Middle School of Murray, Kentucky, won the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) West Kentucky Regional Science Bowl on Friday, February 18, a contest held virtually to protect the health and safety of students, coaches and volunteers.
The five-member team will now compete in DOE’s National Science Bowl finals, which will be conducted virtually from April 28 to May 2, 2022. The Calloway County Middle School team will join Calloway County High School to compete against other schools from across the nation.
In spite of challenges presented by the coronavirus, eight middle school teams competed in the region’s most notable science competition for middle school students. DOE conducted extensive virtual training sessions to prepare coaches, volunteers and competitors in advance for the virtual event. Murray Middle School finished second and Heath Middle School finished third in the regional competition.
“Our kids have worked so hard to get to this place and have juggled a lot of other activities while preparing for this competition. I cannot express how much work they pour into this event. I am so proud of their work ethic and their dedication to the team. Thanks to the Department of Energy for allowing our students this opportunity,” Calloway County Academic Team Coach Scott Pile said.
Other middle schools competing in this year’s virtual event included Henderson County North Middle, Lone Oak Middle, North Marshall Middle, and St. Mary Middle Schools in Kentucky; and Massac Junior High School in Illinois.
The Science Bowl tournament is a quick-recall, fast-paced, question-and-answer contest. The tournament is designed to quiz students on their knowledge of biology, chemistry, Earth and space, energy, mathematics and physics.
“These students and their coaches dedicated an immense amount of time and hard work to prepare for this event. Today, that hard work paid off for Calloway County Middle School,” said Paducah Site Lead Jennifer Woodard of DOE’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO). “The Science Bowl is a lot of fun for these students, but it also plays an important role in the decisions our students make about their future educational path.”
The top 16 high school and middle school teams in the National Science Bowl® finals will receive $1,000 for their schools’ science departments. Each year, more than 14,000 students from across the country compete in the national competition. Since the event began 30 years ago, more than 315,000 students have competed.
Sponsors of the 14th Annual DOE Regional Science Bowl include: DOE, Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce, University of Kentucky College of Engineering, Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership, Petter Business Supply, Mid America Conversion Services, Swift and Staley, Beltline, Enterprise Technical Assistance Services, Geo-Syntech, Healthworks, Northwind, Paducah Water, Veolia, HDR Engineering, GEO Consultants and Chase Environmental.
The event is organized by employees and contractors of DOE PPPO. More than 50 volunteers serve as moderators, judges, technical advisors, and scorekeepers. DOE’s Office of Science manages the National Science Bowl Finals competition. More information is available at https://science.osti.gov/wdts/nsb.
