Following questions that ranged from biology, to astranomy to math, Andover’s top science squad took third place in the New England Regional Science Bowl at University of Massachusetts Lowell the past Saturday. Andover entered two sets of four students, an A and a B team. Aidan Beckley ‘13, David Ding ‘12, Charles Guan ‘12, James Lim ’12 and Kevin Song ’11, competed in the A team. Sean Balling ’12, Mari Funabashi ’13, Gina Sawaya ’13 and Melissa Wattana ’13 composed the B team. The team only lost to Lexington High in a close match at the semi-final level. Song said, “That [match] really showed how everyone there was supporting us and wanted to see us beat [our rivals].” Funabashi said, “The last round that the A team did was so close. At one point we thought our team was going to win.” The B team, composed entirely of first-time competitors, placed twentieth in the competition. “This is definitely one of those things that is a full-team activity. Everyone did really well and we all worked together well,” said Song. Geoffrey Tanner, the team Faculty Advisor, said, “Overall, the day went really well. I don’t think we’ve done that well in a few years so I’m really hoping we get first place next year. This should be possible because Kevin Song is the only senior of the team, so we will have a really strong returning group next year.” “[The team’s success] this year is a vast improvement over last year. They had a really tough match in the semi-finals, and almost pulled out a win,” Tanner continued. Funabashi said, “We were pretty disappointed because the top two teams were Lexington. Nonetheless, that we actually got that far was pretty exciting for all of us.” Song said that the A team made a big improvement from last year’s seventeeth place. “We did not make any silly mistakes. We buzzed really well considering we had only been practicing since December and many of the other teams have been practicing since this summer,” said Song. Tanner said, “We will have a lot of returners next year so we will have a very strong team. Obviously, the goal is to win and then go on to Nationals.” Ding said, “Maybe we could try to win first place next year. That’s our main goal.” The Science Club also looks to carry their success at the Science Bowl forward into the spring when they will compete at the Science Olympiad.
