Successful Competition Highlights Importance of Investing in Next Generation of Leaders in Science
April 28, 2025
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Students from Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, won the high school competition for the 2025 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Science Bowl® (NSB) today. In the middle school portion, students from Hopkins Middle School in Fremont, California took home first place.
“Congratulations to the extraordinary teams from Hopkins Middle School and Montgomery Blair High School, who emerged victorious today as the champions of the 2025 National Science Bowl®,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. “Your success today is more than just a win; it is a testament to the power of curiosity, commitment, and the kind of tenacity that drives scientific progress. You are the future leaders who will shape American technologies, breakthroughs, and bold ideas that will define our world.”
The top two high school teams emerged victorious from a field of 67 high school regional winners in the finals held over the weekend.
After two rounds of competition, both high school teams entered an intense tie-breaking round, the first in NSB history. Ultimately, Montgomery Blair High School defeated Lexington High School from Lexington, Massachusetts, by correctly answering this question:
Consider the hypothetical reaction A converts to B, for which the equilibrium constant, K, is equal to 10. If the initial concentration of A is 10 molar and there is no B, then, to two significant figures and in molar, what will be the equilibrium concentration of B? The correct answer was “9.1.”
The members of the winning high school team are Yunyi Ling, Katherine Wang, Jason Youm, Evan Zhang, Kian Dhawan, and they are coached by Erik Lodal.
Montgomery Blair High School won $5,000 for their school’s science department. The second-place team, Lexington High School will also receive $5,000, while the top 16 high school teams each receive $1,000 for their schools’ science departments.
In the middle school competition, Hopkins Middle School defeated Fort Settlement Middle School from Sugar Land, Texas. The Hopkins Middle School team members are Andy Liu, Avi Batra, Milan Nair, Lucas Jiang, and Abhiraam Girish, and they are coached by Sachin Parekh.
The top two middle school teams emerged victorious from a field of 48 middle school regional champions that participated in the National Science Bowl® Finals. Hopkins Middle School and Fort Settlement Middle School each won $5,000 and the top 16 teams will also receive $1,000 for their schools’ science departments.
Today, the NSB annually draws more than 10,000 middle and high school competitors. Since the first competition in 1991, around 344,000 students have faced off in the National Science Bowl® Finals. The knowledge that former competitors have acquired and, more importantly, the collaborative skills and study habits that they learned along the way have led them to successes in a variety of fields. Many have become researchers; others are science and math professors.
The 2025 competitors follow in the footsteps of previous National Science Bowl® contestants and will blaze a trail for students in science, math, and engineering.
DOE’s Office of Science manages the National Science Bowl® and sponsors the finals competition.
Additional information about the teams and the National Science Bowl® is available at: https://science.osti.gov/wdts/nsb.