A team of students from Van Antwerp Middle School placed fourth in the academic competition and sixth in the fuel cell car competition at U.S. Department of Energy's 2011 National Science Bowl competition. The fourth-place finish is the highest ever for Van Antwerp at the national competition. The school has won seven consecutive Regional Science Bowl titles. Coached by Van Antwerp life science teacher Connie Soron, the team consisted of Robert Kaucic, Martin Schreiner, Alex Wei, Jason Tang, and Andrei Akmetova.

By placing fourth, the team won $1000 for its school science department. Van Antwerp was among 41 middle school teams from around the nation that competed in round robin matches and advanced as far as double elimination rounds on Saturday. They were quizzed on all science disciplines in lightning fast, game-style matches. The 41 school teams also raced hydrogen fuel cell model cars they built and designed.

Below is Coach Soron's delay recap of the team's successes, triumphs, and adventures.

Day 1 - April 28, 2011

The forecast was threatening, and the skies equally foreboding, as the Van Antwerp Science Bowl team gathered at the airport with great enthusiasm and high expectations! We all wore our neon-green VA t-shirts and were easily identified as a high-energy team! After saying our good-byes to parents, and getting through the security check-in, we got to our gate only to find out that our flight was delayed. We were promised a speedy update at noon. As it turned out, we were able to board at that time and, after some anxious moments searching for Andrei’s lost boarding pass, and then cell phone, (both were recovered) we boarded the plane and were treated to a round of applause by the crew and passengers as we were announced as the local team off to a national competition! The kids were so pleased to be recognized.

After a bumpy ride in to BWI, we arrived at the 4H Center in Chevy Chase, Md. where we were greeted by sunshine, warm temps, and many many wonderful volunteers. The kids were loaded up with complimentary t-shirts, travel bags, Frisbees, and games! They were very impressed!

Our first experience in the cafeteria, for dinner, was equally enjoyable as Martin took the lead and showed the other boys around the place. As the veteran he happily demonstrated how to use the “Squishy-maker” (like a Slushy) and how to make a root beer float with soft ice cream... complete with warnings re: cause and affect of carbonated soda on soft ice cream. It’s all about the food.

After a game of Frisbee on the lawns, we headed to the Welcome Assembly after which the boys enjoyed some much-needed downtime. We have a social gathering coming up this evening. The team has already begun to make new friends. At 10:30 p.m. it will be “lights out,” as tomorrow we have a very long day working on a H2 Fuel Cell Activity, roaming the National Mall, and prepping for the academic competition on Saturday.

Day 2 - April 29, 2011

We met bright and early and the boys reported a good night’s sleep. Over a breakfast of scrambled/hard-boiled eggs, pancakes, sausage, juice, donuts, and tater tots (its all about the tater tots!), we planned out the day. After breakfast, the team put in an hour studying in their individual disciplines, after which we gathered to run a full practice round. They are ready!

A quick lunch and we were on our way to the National Mall. We walked from one end to the other! Robert especially wanted to see the Lincoln Memorial and so we set off after spending some time in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. These boys are really fun to spend time in a museum with. No running through the displays, no skipping the written placards in deference to the interactive stuff, they read it all!! I had to drag them out of there to keep us on some kind of schedule!

The day was sunny, but cool and breezy so we weren’t too hot and the kids loved seeing these amazing monuments up close. After trooping all the way to the Lincoln Memorial, we were a bit disappointed to see that the Reflecting Pool was drained and under construction. But the Memorial itself was spectacular and, as always, very moving. We spent some time in the Air and Space Museum on the way back up the Mall; always fascinating! The seat on the bus was a very welcome sight for me!!

After dinner we listened to a formal “Reading of the Rules” for both the academic and fuel cell competitions and now the team is studying and then getting ready for bed.

Tomorrow is the academic competition and we have our work cut out for us. As soon as we arrived here yesterday, Martin, as captain, chose a colored egg that contained a slip of paper with our division placement. We have been placed in the Jefferson Division, along with 3 of the top winners in the past few years!! Randomly assigned, it will not allow us a “warming up” period tomorrow morning, before we meet the toughest competitors. I told the boys this will work out perfectly for us as we will be the most rested and alert first thing in the morning. Keep your fingers crossed!

Day 3 - April 30, 2011

The Academic Competition is here!!! Can you feel the pulsing anxiety? It’s palpable here!! The day is sunny, warm and parents and grandparents are beginning to arrive. While checking out the division roster and schedule this morning, we were paid a needed compliment as I remarked to one of the other coaches that we were in the Jefferson division and that one could characterize it as a “meat-grinder” given the number of previous winners in the grouping. He remarked, “YOU Guys are part of the meat-grinder!” I was happy to report this to the team who took pride in being thought of as a formidable group.

We began our competition at 9:30am. With high expectations, and just a bit of terror, the team took their places at the table facing the judges. They tested out their buzzers, announced their names, took a collective deep breath, and we were off! The team we played against was a previous powerhouse but the boys were terrific and won that round 140 to 30. We played our next match immediately afterwards and won it easily too! We continued through the morning and into the afternoon with just a couple of breaks. By 3:00 we finished our final match in our division and has secured second place, losing only once! Oh there were broad smiles all around.

After a brief break to run outside and throw the Frisbee, the team was back into the hot stuffy competition rooms as we battled our way through the Double Elimination Rounds. The questions were high school level and quite a bit more difficult this year than past years. That was true throughout the day. We won some rounds by just a few points, and we lost 2 by just as narrow a margin. We were finally finished, by losing a second time, at 8pm.! It was a grueling day, but your team succeeded in carrying the Niskayuna – Van Antwerp name all the way up to the quarterfinal rounds. I believe we will end up placing fourth in the academic competition. This is the best we have ever done, and I am so proud of our boys.

I just left them enjoying juice, bags of junk food, and cookies while challenging each other to games of chess! They so deserve time to relax and just be boys. Tomorrow is the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car Race at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. Wish us luck!

(p.s. They are already arguing about who gets to carry the big check off the plane!!)

Day 4 - May 1, 2011

After breakfast and some quiet time, we boarded the buses at 9:00am with our H2 fuel cell car and all our equipment for the day’s adventure in racing! A quick bus trip, with just enough time for another couple of rounds of Husky Starcraft’s version of Justin Beiber’s song “Baby Baby” (all in good voice Mrs. Rice!), and we arrived at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. It’s a great building with a lovely campus. As we off-loaded, the boys looked like techno-warriors off to do battle! The teams were immediately segregated, into a large area in the gym, to work on their cars with designated inspectors and other event officials. The coaches and parents were, meanwhile, ushered into a separate area. We are not allowed in with the kids. This is set up to insure that the students are the only ones working on the cars and the only ones allowed on the race floor during the competition. Any problems that come up, with the finicky fuel cell or anything else, must be resolved by the students alone. After a quick box lunch, the races began. The team placed the fuel cell car on the racetrack in their designated lane. Martin and Robert set up the car after charging the cell and were poised to let it fly! Jason was the spotter while Andrei and Alex were ready to catch the car at the end of the 10-meter track. The horn sounded and the cars took off for the finish line... except ours, which crawled to a stop half way down the track. The boys were obviously disappointed but did not hesitate to quickly regroup and head off to their workstation to figure out what went wrong.

Each team gets 2 attempts to get into the finals so our second attempt had to be perfect. By the time the team was called to the starting line, the kids had figured out the problem. The horn sounded and our car flew down the track at 4.01sec/10m. The team was thrilled! We were third in that race, and on to the finals. We ended up securing sixth place in the final, out of the 41 fuel cell cars that competed. Students, coaches, parents, siblings and grandparents all cheered. It was another triumphant day of overcoming multiple obstacles and proving our academic and technical skills along with good team collaboration.

We will be up by 5am tomorrow to eat, check out, and then board buses to the National Building Museum, where the finals of the middle school and high school academic competitions will be held along with the Award Ceremony. I understand that you can see the awards ceremony video clip on-line if you go to the national science bowl site. I think you can even select to see the mini-clip of the VA team on stage with Stephen Chu, Secretary of Energy!

I have to say that we are all pretty exhausted and ready to come home. And, although I have the opportunity to bring these outstanding students to this event, it is on the shoulders of all of their teachers that they arrived at this point.

(May 2, 2011)