4th in state: HVA Scholars Bowl team
“We’re the only school from Knox County that placed in the top four,” said Kerri Kissinger, HVA chemistry teacher/Science Bowl team coach. “They come from all over the state.”
While two HVA teams went to the state Science Bowl, Team 1 earned the top four honor. The fourth-place team consisted of Class of 2023 seniors Benjamin Fanikos (captain), Nathan Fawver, Peyton Jones and Finley Copland, and junior David Hart.
Hardin Valley competed against 58 teams statewide.
“As far as we know, there is no national competition,” Kissinger said.
Science Bowl, hosted by Oak Ridge National Laboratories, is a “competition for students to show off their skills in all areas of science and in math,” she said about the Jeopardy-style platform, in which a team of five students competes against another team of five.
Earning the program’s highest finish, “They also won $250 for the school,” Kissinger said.
“It’s a buzzer-type format, so the question will be read to both teams, and the team that buzzes in first gets a chance to answer the question,” Kissinger added. “At the end, the team with the most points moves on (to the next bracket). There are several brackets to get to the final four.”
All team members from the Class of 2023 are going to college.
“They used part of to celebrate at Topgol, and the other portion will be used to help purchase new equipment for the Science Bowl team.
“This is the first year that we have placed in the top four,” Kissinger added
While the school has been competing in Science Bowl for the last five years, this year’s event was especially memorable for Kissinger.
“The competition took place the day after I had cancer surgery,” she said. “I wasn’t able to go with them, but it was really awesome for them to do such an amazing job when I couldn’t even be there.”
