North Hollywood High School team captures National Science Bowl crown

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- A team of North Hollywood High School science students emerged victorious Saturday over scholars from 63 other schools nationwide in this year's U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science National Science Bowl Championship.

The win marks North Hollywood High's second National Science Bowl championship, following the title captured in 2001.

The school has placed among the top five teams 12 times at the national event.

Naperville North High School from the Chicago area placed second.

Rounding out the top four teams are last year's championship team, Dougherty Valley High School from San Ramon and Eastside High School of Gainesville, Florida.

This was the second year that National Science Bowl competition was held virtually. This year the regional competitions also were held virtually.

The North Hollywood Science Bowl Team members are Captain Albert Zhang, Lydia Qin, Theodore Dupont, Shion Murakawa and Eric Yoon.

The coaches are Altair Maine and Len Soloff.

This title marks the fifth time an LADWP regional championship team has won the National Science Bowl. It also is the 15th time a regional championship team from Los Angeles placed first though fifth in the program since 1993.

Last year, North Hollywood placed among the top four teams during the virtual finals, third in 2019 and second in 2018.

To qualify for the national competition, the North Hollywood team in February won the 2021 LADWP Science Bowl Regional Competition, the school's 22nd regional title in the past 24 years.

"Science Bowl is a proud LADWP tradition and example of the department's commitment to the Los Angeles educational community,'' LADWP Manager of Education Outreach Walter Zeisl said.