Media Advisory - The Virginia Middle School Science Bowl Is Set For March 6 at Jefferson Lab

What: The 2010 Virginia Regional Middle School Science Bowl

When: Saturday, March 6, 2010. Round-robin competition will run from 10 a.m. - noon. The double-elimination, semi-final and finalist rounds will run from 1:30 to approximately 4 p.m. Awards will be presented immediately after the final round.

Where: CEBAF Center Auditorium at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, located at 12,000 Jefferson Avenue, Newport News, VA

Details: Seventeen teams, representing middle schools, home-school groups and a science club from across the commonwealth are participating in this annual, academic competition. Catch the excitement as some schools join the competition for the first time and other schools field multiple teams. The winning team earns $750 for its school and an expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C. for the Science Bowl Nationals. Last year's winning team was the Northern Virginia Homeschoolers. Will they win again, or will another team unseat them? Five groups are sending two teams to this year's competition.

News media representatives are invited to attend all or any part of the daylong event. Please contact the Jefferson Lab Public Affairs office by 5 p.m. Friday, March 5, if you plan on attending any part of the tournament, or if your news agency would like to receive the results at the end of Saturday's competition.

For security purposes, enter at JLab's main entrance (Onnes Drive.) on Jefferson Avenue. Everyone over 16 is asked to carry a valid photo ID. Security guards may perform ID, parcel and vehicle checks. This program is sponsored nationwide by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The public is invited to the afternoon finals matches, beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the CEBAF Center Auditorium.

Contact: Debbie Magaldi, magaldi@jlab.org or (757) 269-5102

Participating schools and groups, in alphabetical order:
Albert Hill Middle School, Richmond
Benjamin Syms Middle School, Hampton
Benton Middle School, Manassas
Chancellor Middle School, Fredericksburg (two teams)
Gildersleeve Middle School, Newport News
Glade Spring Middle School, Glade Spring
Grafton Middle School, Yorktown (two teams)
Great Bridge Middle School, Chesapeake (two teams)
Longfellow Middle School, Falls Church
Northern Virginia Homeschoolers, Ashburn (two teams)
Salem Middle School, Virginia Beach
St. Pius X School, Norfolk
The Copernicus Crew from Haycock Elementary School, Falls Church

To learn more about the U.S. Department of Energy's annual National Science Bowl competition, visit: http://www.scied.science.doe.gov/nsb/

Check out the types of questions students will answer at: http://www.scied.science.doe.gov/nsb/ms/sampleqs.htm

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Jefferson Science Associates, LLC, manages and operates the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, or Jefferson Lab, for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. JSA is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Southeastern Universities Research Association, Inc. (SURA).

DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science