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Four Chillicothe High School students are bound for Washington D. C. after qualifying for a national competition. According to CHS teacher Joshua Queen, the Science Bowl team -- consisting of juniors Carly Lake, Lucas Mettler, Luke Austin, and Kaimon Allen --recently won the U.S. Department of Energy's South Central Ohio Regional Science Bowl at Shawnee State University.
Photo via Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth.
"Science Bowl is a competition put on by the federal government," said Queen. "It is to inspire people to learn more about science."
According to Queen, regional science trivia events take place across the country, and the local regional included students from a four-county area.
"We started out the day kind of rough," said Queen. "We had some rough early games, but after you are seeded, it is single-elimination. Once the single-elimination started, we didn't lose again. We even beat teams that had beat us in the morning."
Queen also said he could see his students' confidence grow after they defeated a tough competitor in the semi-finals.
"Lucasville Valley II had won last year, so those players had a lot of experience," Queen said, "and after they beat them, they're like 'Hey, we might actually be able to do this.'"
Chillicothe defeated Northwest II to earn the 2023 Regional Champion title.
Back Row (Right to Left): Lucas Mettler, Luke Austin, Carly Lake, and Kaimon Allen pose with students from Northwest High School. Photo via Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth.
Regional champions, including Chillicothe's Science Bowl team, earn an all-expenses paid trip to compete in the National Science Bowl in Washington D.C., April 27th-May 1st.
"I had a team qualify in 2016, so I kind of know what to expect," Queen said. "We get to fly, we get to be tourists in Washington D.C., we get to compete. It's a lot of fun."