Local students to compete in Energy Department science competition

Here’s a question for you: What are the names for the pyrimidine bases found in DNA?

That’s just one example of the many challenges that a few dozen high school students in Huntington Beach and Irvine will field this weekend in a quiz-style competition known as the U.S. Department of Energy National Science Bowl.

The competition, in its 25th year, promotes students’ interest in math and science.

Six area high schools are sending a team of students to compete in a regional match Saturday at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. The schools are Edison, Marina and Huntington Beach high schools in Huntington Beach and University, Woodbridge and Northwood high schools in Irvine.

The winning team from the regional competition will advance to the National Science Bowl in late April in Washington, D.C.

The contest requires a commitment above and beyond standard academics, according to David Knight, University High coach.

“They have to be willing to read college-level textbooks in chemistry, physics, math and biology on their own, because topics in Science Bowl wouldn’t ordinarily be covered in a high school classroom,” said Knight, chairman of the high school science department.

Knight said University’s team, which has participated in the bowl for more than 20 years, won the regional competition the past two years. The prize was $500 for the school.

This year, University’s team includes three returning players, among them captain Albert Tung, a senior. Teams are made up of four players and an alternate.

Tung said students practice about two hours per week, testing their reaction speeds and knowledge.

The University High team consists of Tung; Brandon Chen, senior; Al Chang, senior; Gunvant Chaudhari, senior; and Jonathan Huang, sophomore.

The Marina High School team consists of Austin Hwang, sophomore; Michael Justin, sophomore; Philip Phan, junior; Noah Kurihara, senior; and Madhav Gharmalkar, senior.

The Edison High team includes Seth Campbell, senior; Adam Cavecche, senior; Nicholas Riasanovsky, senior; and Jackson Sipple, senior.

The Huntington Beach High team members are juniors Samantha Cendro, Marlon Trifunovic, Todd Bertels, Sean Prager and Aurora Johnson.

Woodbridge and Northwood did not provide the names of the students on their teams.