As the regional champion, team members each receive the $1,000 Hitachi Scholarship and an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. April 28 to May 2 to represent the City of Los Angeles and compete at the U.S. Department of Energy National Science Bowl. The trip is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science. The North Hollywood team will compete in a field of 70 regional high school champions from 40 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  A total of 10 teams from California will participate.

Previous LADWP regional winning teams have some of the best records at the National Science Bowl, having captured four national titles and placed among the top five teams 11 times.

The team from the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies also gave an impressive performance in placing second.  The third place winner was El Camino Real Charter High School, while North Hollywood High School Team B placed fourth.

Students also showed problem solving and time management abilities in the special Water and Power Community Credit Union Hands-On Competition.  This year’s competition involved designing and building a functioning catapult that launched a plastic projectile onto a target.

In this competition, Hamilton High School was the recipient of the first place Franklin Lu Hands-On Trophy, presented in memory of the late LADWP engineer and Science Bowl volunteer.  Team members received a $250 scholarship. The second place scholarship award was presented to Palisades Charter High School.  Third and fourth place scholarships were awarded to Venice High School and Downtown Business Magnets High School, respectively. The Water and Power Community Credit Union sponsored all the scholarships in the hands-on competition this year.

Science Bowl is a proud LADWP tradition and excellent example of the Department’s commitment to the Los Angeles educational community.  Each year, the LADWP Science Bowl tests the region’s sharpest students’ reflexes, teamwork skills and knowledge in a fun competitive atmosphere using a television game show format that involves toss-up and bonus questions, buzzers and timed responses.

In addition to LADWP and the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, sponsors for this year’s Science Bowl included, the Hitachi Southern California Regional Community Action Committee, the Water and Power Community Credit Union,  the Gas Company, IEEE’s Industrial Applications Society, Metro LA Chapter, Gelson’s Markets, Office Depot, and the Los Angeles Unified School District

The event was also made possible through the efforts of 100 volunteers comprised mainly of LADWP employees, their families, and past Science Bowl participants from the LADWP Science Bowl and other regions.

The National Science Bowl is among the nation’s largest high school science-based academic competitions and the only one sponsored by a federal agency. Since it’s inception in 1991 more than 250,000 students have participated in the program. The national sponsor is the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science.

LADWP is one of only a few utilities in the nation to serve as a coordinating regional science bowl sponsor and host.  The LADWP is the nation’s largest municipally-owned utility with more than 1.4 million customers.

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