Test of knowledge comes down to the wire
Tokay Science Bowl team wins regionals, headed to nationals
Tokay High School’s Science Bowl team took home a win this weekend after hosting the regional tournament at their home school for the first time.
“It was a little bit stressful but a fun experience,” said Rubie Dhillon, a Tokay High Student on the team who is looking forward to competing on a grander stage.
Students will be heading to nationals in Washington, D.C. this spring, where they will compete against the top high school teams in the country with more than 14,000 students.
Science Bowl is an academic competition where students have just seconds to answer complicated math and science questions before their competitors. Much like a quiz show, students hit buzzers to determine which student and team gets to answer the question. Teams with the most points after several rounds of play move up into a double elimination stage where teams that lose twice are eliminated from the competition.
Each student prepares for a wide variety of topics by specializing in certain areas. Junior student Matthew Hashimoto was ready to answer biology questions and some on energy and physics.
During Saturday’s tournament, Tokay High School’s team faced stiff competition from several Central Valley schools. They reached the double elimination round and were neck-and-neck with Clovis North High School who won the regional competition last year, according to Tokay High School coach and retired teacher Susan Heberle.
“It was very exciting. It came down to the wire,” said Owen Canestrino, a freshman student on the team.
This year Tokay High students managed to clinch victory by one question on a technicality. On an astronomy question about pulsars, Clovis students’ answer was too specific and Tokay students were able to give the correct general answer the judges were looking for. Saturday’s victory marks the team’s ninth win in Heberle’s 12 years of coaching the team.
Jack Gobel, a junior student and team captain was glad to see efforts pay off since he had been working on Science Bowl since eighth grade.
“I’m proud of my team and I’m looking forward to competing in nationals. I think this will really be building us up for next year’s regionals,” Gobel said.
It took countless hours of study and preparation to get to this competition, Heberle said. Her daughter, Anne, a former competitor, returned after graduating medical school to help students learn topics relating to diseases and anatomy, she said. Parents and students also put in many hours going to practices and working from home.
“I can’t say enough how proud I am of these students. They put in a tremendous amount of time and effort into accomplishing this. People always say, ‘Oh, they’re so smart.’ It’s not just that they’re smart but they also put the time and effort into it,” Heberle said.
Students unanimously attributed much of their win to Heberle for guiding them through their studies.
The team’s next stop will be nationals in Washington, D.C. from April 27 to May 1.