Morgantown High School-Team 1 and Suncrest Middle School-Team 1, also from Morgantown, claimed first-place victories in the 2023 West Virginia Regional Science Bowl sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and NETL.

The annual competition was held in a virtual setting Feb. 3-4. Seventeen teams representing 12 high schools and 12 teams from nine middle schools took part. The winners move on to represent West Virginia in DOE’s National Science Bowl scheduled for April 27-May 1 in Washington, D.C.

“Congratulations to this year’s winners and good luck as you prepare for the National Science Bowl,” said NETL Director Brian Anderson. “At NETL, we are proud to host this regional competition because it encourages talented students to focus on science and mathematics by participating in an exciting, fun contest while developing their interests to serve as tomorrow’s researchers and engineers who will make amazing discoveries.”

The West Virginia Regional Science Bowl tested students’ knowledge of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) topics. Middle school teams competed Friday, followed by high school students on Saturday. The virtual competition space and altered format adopted in 2021 continued this year. Teams competed individually instead of going head-to-head, with the highest-scoring teams moving up.

Coming in at second, third and fourth place in the high school contest were Wheeling Park High School, Morgantown High School-Team 2 and Oak Hill High School-Team 1, respectively. In the middle school competition, the second-, third- and fourth-place winners were Triadelphia Middle School-Team 1, Suncrest Middle School-Team 2 and St. Francis Central Catholic School, respectively.

The 17 high school teams competing in the regional competition were from Central Catholic High School (Wheeling), George Washington High School (Charleston), Liberty High School (Clarksburg), Morgantown High School, Oak Hill High School, Parkersburg High School, Pikeview High School (Princeton), Princeton Senior High School, Ripley High School, Tyler Consolidated High School (Sistersville), Wheeling Park High School and Woodrow Wilson High School (Beckley).

The 12 middle schools competing in the regional competition were from Baileysville Elementary and Middle School (Brenton), Blennerhassett Middle School (Parkersburg), Fayetteville PK-8, Jackson Middle School (Vienna), Mountaineer Middle School (Morgantown), Pendleton County Middle School (Franklin), St. Francis Central Catholic School (Morgantown), Suncrest Middle School (Morgantown) and Triadelphia Middle School.

NETL is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory that drives innovation and delivers technological solutions for an environmentally sustainable and prosperous energy future. By using its world-class talent and research facilities, NETL is ensuring affordable, abundant, and reliable energy that drives a robust economy and national security, while developing technologies to manage carbon across the full life cycle, enabling environmental sustainability for all Americans.

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