La Cueva Students Take Second Place in Regional Science Bowl

Event aimed at inspiring students to pursue STEM careers.

A team from La Cueva High School took second place during the Department of Energy Regional Science Bowl this past weekend.

La Cueva students Ishaan Bhatt, Aditya Koushik, Lucas Riley, Joaquin Headley, and Joseph Wang competed against science and math buffs from seven New Mexico high schools. The fast-paced question-and-answer competition assessed student knowledge across various disciplines, including biology, earth and space science, physics, energy, and math. Students had just a few seconds to respond to questions.

A team from Los Alamos High took first place.

Volunteers from Sandia National Labs serve as organizers, judges, scorekeepers, and timekeepers for the Science Bowl. Some of this year’s volunteers include Sandia employees who participated in the event when they were in middle and High School.

The competition is aimed at inspiring students to pursue STEM careers.

“This event is so important because these kids are our future,” said Amy Tapia, community involvement manager at Sandia. “They work really hard to get here. It’s a big deal to them.”

A team from Eisenhower Middle School placed third in the middle school competition, which was held in February. The Eisenhower students on that team were Mattias Niday, Beatrice Behrman, Caleb Hubbard, Jonathan Little, and Aaron Brown.