On February 3, of 2018, many high school students competed in the Wyoming regional science bowl tournament. The Kelly Walsh science team competed against 11 other teams and emerged in first place after a long day of going undefeated.

To describe the competition, senior, Abi Shoup said, “It was a little nerve racking because we lost the first three matches and that was a total shot to our confidence, but we came were able to come back and ended up going undefeated.”

Typically, competitions are not very stressful because the team is so well prepared. Mr. Kasza and Mr. Sharpe are the coaches for the Kelly Walsh team, these competitions are just as important to them as they are the student members. They also dedicate a lot of their time to train and prepare the students, so they are able to enter the competitions with confidence.

The members are now preparing for the National Science Bowl in Washington, D.C. at the end of April. Four members compete at one time, but every team has an alternate. The five person team prepared for this competition through numerous practices. During practices, each member would attempt to solve problems requiring extensive background knowledge in earth science, general science, physics, energy and math.

“To practice we get used to hearing questions and develop a strategy to use in the competition,” said Shoup.

In the actual competition, there are three different rounds: a round robin,  a toss up and then a final tournament. The final tournament is double or nothing and can be compared to the mathlete competition in the 2004 movie, Mean Girls. Question types include multiple choice and short answer questions. A moderator will present a question, then the competitors work the problem and once they come to a solution they buzz in with hopes of answering correctly. If they answer incorrectly, the other team has the opportunity to answer and earn team points.

The national competition is going to be overflowing with insane intelligence. The Kelly Walsh team is currently preparing, but Shoup admitted, “We are going to try our best, but we are going primarily for the experience.”

Going to this national competition is tremendous, more than 9,000 students competed at the beginning of the new year for this opportunity. The Kelly Walsh science team does not have many members due to the immense dedication and work ethic required, but they still look to represent KW well when the time comes.