WASHINGTON, June 23 (UPI) -- Challenger School of Newark, Calif., has been named the winner of the 2008 U.S. Department of Energy National Science Bowl for middle school students.
Teams representing 36 middle schools from across the United States competed in the national finals Sunday at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colo.
Members of the Challenger team were Nikhil Desai, Rahul Joshi, Aditya Limaye, Aditya Mukund and Arun Pingali. The coaches, Dipty Desai and Raji Pingali, and the team's members won a $150 gift card from amazon.com and a Texas Instrument NSpire-84 graphing calculator, along with a trophy.
The answer that clinched the championship was in response to a math question: Jiminy Cricket is at the bottom of a 39.5-foot wall. He wants to get over the top. Each time he jumps, he jumps 4 feet up and falls back 3 feet. How many jumps will it take him to jump over the top of the wall? The answer was 37.
Second place in the competition went to Hopkins Junior High School of Fremont, Calif., with third place won by St. Andrews Episcopal School of Amarillo, Texas.
