Kids & Family

Dougherty Valley High School Headed to National Science Bowl

The team will go on to compete in the Dept. of Energy National Science Bowl in Washington, D.C.

Students from Dougherty Valley High School in San Ramon, Calif. will be one of the teams representing California at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Science Bowl in April.

The team took first place at the Sandia National Laboratories Regional High School Science Bowl at Los Positas College on Saturday, Jan. 25.

The students representing Dougherty Valley High School are Augustine Chemparathy, Rishi Krishnan, Bibhav Poudel, Saranesh Prembabu, and Wesley Wang, coached by Cathy Huang and Rym Hannachi. Mission San Jose High School finished in second place and Amador Valley High School took the third spot.

A total of 24 teams from Northern California high schools participated in the event. Students answered questions related to Biology, Chemistry, Earth and Space Science, Energy, Mathematics, and Physics during the fast-paced, all-day, “Jeopardy” style competition.

The Dougherty Valley High School team will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to compete against top teams across the nation at the DOE National Science Bowl in late April. While this is the school’s first trip to the DOE National Science Bowl, several team members already have experience on the national stage. Chemparathy, Krishna, and Prembabu were part of the Gale Ranch Middle School that won the DOE National Science Bowl in 2011.  

Sandia National Laboratories coordinates annual high school and middle school regional competitions for DOE’s Office of Science. DOE created the National Science Bowl in 1991 to encourage students to excel in math and science and pursue careers in related fields. More than 200,000 students have participated in the National Science Bowl since its inception.

Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corp., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies and economic competitiveness.


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