A passion that I’ve had since the beginning of middle school is Science Bowl, a national competition that knowledge on a number of subjects, like biology or chemistry, run by the DOE.

Science Bowl uses a buzzer format for students to respond to questions, and each team consists of 4 people and a substitute. In order to qualify for the national competition, you first need to win the regional competition, which is run in a double-elimination format. Only up to 3 teams from a school may go to it, so competition is fierce.

Once you win, however, the national competition is super fun and you get to live in the national conference center in Washington, D.C. for a whole week, and you receive a lot of souvenirs just for being there. In addition to the more vigorous competition, also in a double elimination format, you get a lot of leniency, so you may tour the nation’s capital. Best of it all? The entire journey is all-inclusive.

I only knew about Science Bowl when I was looking through the list of school clubs with my parents when I was in 6th grade, and I chose it because I thought it would be fun. That year, I grasped a basic knowledge of the rules of Science Bowl, but I wasn’t very good. Our school didn’t even win the regional competition, and lost to a rival school in town. Still, it didn’t matter to me, because I got to know a lot of new people, many of whom I still consider friends now.

I tried harder, and went to study sessions with my newfound friends. In 7th grade, I missed the A team by a hair, which was filled by my now 8th grade friends. To rub salt in the wound, we won the regional competition too, which hurt me, even when I was applauding for my friends during the award ceremony. I felt like I was missing out. I promised myself that I would be up on the podium next year.

Unluckily, I was fighting an uphill battle, because our entire A team was in 8th grade, and would be moving on to high school next year, but the rival school’s team consisted fully of 7th graders.

So, that summer and in the following year, I studied even harder to balance the odds stacked against me. However, I still couldn’t find enough time to review all of the subjects. So, in a last-ditch attempt, I decided to ask a few of my friends in my grade to join the club at the beginning of the year, and asked my old friends, now in high school, to help coach our team.

Some of my friends agreed, and they studied throughout the year. Eventually, all of us got selected for the A team, and the key thing is that we each reviewed a different subject, so together, we basically reviewed all 5 major subjects. I felt confident. However, although we did well in the qualification rounds, we suffered an early loss in the elimination round against our rival school’s A team. Then, in an unexpected turn of events, the rival school’s A team lost to their own B team in a stunning defeat. , including their undefeated B team, in the semifinals.

In the resting session before the semis, I thought all hope was lost, and we would almost definitely lose, because we had to face the rival school’s C team, A team, and B team back to back, and we had to win 4 times in a row to avoid being eliminated. However, all of our hard work paid off. We won against the C team without breaking a sweat, but had an almost fatal defeat to their A team, but still won in the end by a small margin. Lastly, the first of the two finals was the toughest, but we were still victorious. In the second finals, the winner of which would be the champions of the competition, our opponents lost heart from their previous defeat, so we won easily, and were crowned the champions of the competition. The things I’ve learned over my experiences with Science Bowl in the last 3 years were very important, like how you cannot do everything by yourself, but that isn’t a reason to be lazy. I also learned not to be disheartened, even if all seemed lost.

When I go to the Lexington High School Science Bowl club next year, which is also one of the most distinguished in the country, I will be very excited for the new influx of talented, more experienced players. I wish to reunite with my old friends who helped me when I was in 7th grade, but also continue to work with the friends in my grade. Science Bowl also taught me how to spend my time effectively, a useful skill in high school. Lastly, I plan on continuing Science Bowl because I feel like the journey is more valuable than the result.