CHAMPS AGAIN: Princeton Charter School (PCS) defeated Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School in the final round to win its second straight championship in the U.S. Department of Energy New Jersey Regional Science Bowl at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory last Friday. PCS competitors, from left, are Justin Feder, Jack Fan, Viraj Singh, and Jonathan Gu. (Photo by Elle Starkman/PPPL Office of Communications)

By Donald Gilpin

In a battle of the minds in which teams of top math and science students in the state compete in double-elimination rounds, Princeton Charter School (PCS) successfully defended its championship in the U.S. Department of Energy’s New Jersey Regional Science Bowl at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) on February 22 and 23.

PCS defeated Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School (BRMS) in the final middle school contest, 72-36. BRMS triumphed over John Witherspoon Middle School (JWMS) in the seventh round of the competition, placing BRMS second and JWMS, 2017 champion and last year’s runner-up, in third. There were 16 middle school teams in this year’s regional science bowl.

The PCS team, including coaches Laura Celik and Suzanne Ritter, captain Viraj Singh, and Jack Fan, George Kopf, Jonathan Gu, and Justin Feder, will travel, all-expenses paid, to the DOE’s National Science Bowl in Washington D.C,. April 25-29, to compete against 49 other regional teams.

In the high school competition, the Ridge team from Basking Ridge defeated West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South (WW-PHSS) in the finals, 112-72. Thirty-two high school teams competed. WW-PHSS finished second, and Princeton High School was third. WW-PHSS won the contest in 2015, 2016, and 2017.

“This was one of the most exciting Science Bowls,” said PPPL Science Education program manager and contest organizer DeeDee Ortiz. “I’m so proud of them all.” This was the 26th year that PPPL has hosted the Science Bowl. More than 40 volunteers from PPPL and Princeton University worked on the event as science judgers, moderators, score keepers, and helpers.

“Every year it is thrilling to see teams of students competing, not in a sports competition, but in a highly competitive round-robin challenge of one’s intellectual ability,” said Andrew Zwicker, head of the office of communications, public outreach, and science education at PPPL. “These young students have a breadth and depth of knowledge that is remarkable and makes me feel that the next generation of scientists and engineers are brilliant and will soon be inventing the technology to make our lives better, safer, and stronger.”

PCS coach Celik said she was especially pleased with the victory because many of the team members were new with most of last year’s squad having graduated. “There was a lot of pressure on them,” Celik said. “They’re really proud to repeat.”