North Hollywood and Santa Monica High School Teams Leave For National Science Bowl

NEWS RELEASE
April 18, 2007

LOS ANGELES — The five-member North Hollywood High School and Santa Monica High School Science Bowl teams leave next week to participate at the U.S. Department of Energy National Science Bowl program in Washington, D.C. April 26 to 30. The teams will compete in the prestigious event, in a field of 67 regional championship teams from 42 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

North Hollywood is the champion of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) Science Bowl regional competition, 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), represents Southern California areas outside of the City and LAUSD.

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, nine of the past 12 years. In 2006, North Hollywood placed second at the National Science Bowl.

This year marks the ninth time that North Hollywood High School is competing in the National Science Bowl as the regional champion of the LADWP Science Bowl. The school won a national title in 2001 and placed second three times as well as receiving trophies for fourth and fifth place in other years. Teams from the LADWP Science Bowl that have won national titles are Van Nuys High School in 1995 and Venice High School in 1996 and 1997.

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. Some questions also cover currents events in math, science and technology.

This year 12,000 students in 1800 schools participated in the 67 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 studies 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, the Teacher Workshops Series and the Times in Education Program. Further information about LADWP Education Programs can be received by logging on to www.ladwp.com and clicking 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.

# # #

LADWP,
WALTER ZEISL, (213) 792-5521 (cell)
or (301) 961-2854, 4-H Center, from 4/26/07 to 4/30/07 at National Science Bowl