Science Bowl
What is the most common term used in genetics to describe the observable physical characteristics of an organism caused by the expression of a gene or set of genes? If you answered “phenotype,” you are correct. If the area of a regular pentagon is 280 square centimeters, what is the length, in centimeters, of each side if the apothem is 16 centimeters? You said seven? Correct! One more question: without leap days every 4 years, the winter solstice would start on what month and day after 70 years? You have five seconds. Go!
These were the questions facing more than 100 high school students at this year’s Hawaii State Science Bowl. Science Bowl is like jeopardy, but instead of pop culture and history, they are answering questions about complex derivatives and types of spectacular electric discharge. Teams are made up of no more than five high schoolers, four “on the court” at one time. A correct answer is four points plus a chance to answer a bonus question worth ten points. Since its inception in 1994, the State Science Bowl has seen more than 1,900 students who will become our future entrepreneurs, engineers, doctors, and inventors.
Meet Laney Flanagan, One Jae Lee, Kaitlyn Takeno, and Josh Lee. They are one of the two Maui High Science Bowl teams for 2018. Flanagan is their captain. She’s a senior on her way to MIT. She said she has always been interested in science, but credits her freshman science teacher for reinforcing her interest. One Jae Lee is a senior inspired to study science because of his love of the ocean. Not just fishing and diving, but studying the organisms that call the ocean home. “He has these shrimps called triops and he’s been talking about then nonstop since he got them,” says Laney. Kaitlyn is a junior who has aspirations to work in the medical field. It was not until middle school that her interest in science was sparked by an amazing teacher. Josh Lee is a junior who looks up to the science’s unsung heroes. He is also fascinated by space. Josh used to borrow books about the solar system from the public library and read about life beyond this Earth.
“Once you set a standard, nothing is good enough except a win,” says Mr. Ed Ginoza. Maui High has a tradition of winning when it comes to Science Bowl. Mr. Ginoza, a former science teacher at Maui High started the team in 1995 and still coaches the team today. In 2002, they became the first public school to win it all.
Laney, One Jae, Kaitlyn, Josh, and their coach, Ed Ginoza, are sitting in a classroom at Honolulu Community College. On the other side of the room is a team from Punahou. A moderator begins asking a physics question. Before he is finished, Laney buzzes in with the correct answer. They get the bonus question right too giving them 14 points. The moderator asks a geometry question. Within two seconds, Kaitlyn buzzes in with the correct answer. This instant offense went on for the next 15 minutes. When the final buzzer sounded, it was Maui High over Punahou by more than 80 points. Laney ran to her coach jumping up and down.
At the end of the day, it was not Maui High, but Punahou who won the chance to represent the State in the National Science Bowl in Washington D.C. “Regardless of the end result, we were really happy with how we did,” said Maui’s fearless captain.
The next weekend, Laney, One Jae, and a Maui High team led by none other than Mr. Ginoza, competed in the Aloha Bowl, a similar competition for ocean science, and won. In April, they are on their way to the National Ocean Sciences Bowl to compete for a national championship.
When asked how they apply science to their everyday life, Laney said, “My grandpa makes really fluffy pancakes. When I asked him how, he told me he uses baking soda and lime juice. I was like, that’s carbon dioxide!”
