Falcons sweep Physics Bowl

The school’s Physics Bowl team placed first in the nation among Division 1 teams in the annual Physics Bowl with an overall score of 140, nine points higher than Gilford High School, the second place team from Connecticut.

The school team consisted of sophomore Karena Chow and juniors Jacky Lee, Alex Li, Celine Liang, Brendan Ney, Nate Ney, Sean Shi and Kristine Zhang. Liang placed seventh in the nation and Shi and Zhang placed first and second respectively on a regional level. Li and Brendan both scored one point fewer than Zhang.

Physics Bowl participants took an individual, multiple-choice  test proctored by physics teacher Kirk Davis in early April. They were then ranked by score to determine their standings.

Zhang was “surprised” with her score because she found this year’s test “harder and more time consuming.” Nevertheless, Zhang is happy with the overall performance of the team, although the test itself is completed individually.

Shi felt similarly about the team’s performance.

“Looking back, I’m not very surprised about scores,” Shi said. “I got something reasonable and I think we’re going to do about the same next year.”

Zhang said the individual performances in the Physics Olympiads, a harder contest held earlier in the year, likely contributed to and reflects the team’s success in Physics Bowl.

Zhang, Liang, Li and Shi were all semifinalists for Physics Olympiads. Liang placed in the top 20 in the nation, receiving gold, both Li and Shi received silver and Zhang received an honorary mention.

“We have more Physics Olympiad semifinalists this year, [and] it seems like more people are participating in physics competitions,” Zhang said.

Because of their successful performance in Division 1 this year, which is intended for students who have taken one year of physics, the Physics Bowl team will compete in Division 2 next year, which targets students who have taken two years of physics.

Despite the increased difficulty of the Division 2 test, Brendan believes the team will be able to perform just as well next year and place among the top five teams in the nation.

For his part, physics teacher Kirk Davis said he is proud of all the participants’ performances and believes that next year’s competitions will go well.

“They’ll be fine,” Davis said. “There’s a bunch of smart kids at this school.”