After going 4-0 in their bracket and competing in 4 rounds of Double Elimination, Thomas Jefferson's Team (consisting of Captain Wil Kilpatrick and Team Members Avi Baehr, Seth Waddell, Helen Zhang, and Alternate Zack Yang) won 8th Place in the National Competition out of the 25 competing teams. This ranking garnered TJHSST money for textbooks and classroom supplies. Go to the CORE Website and look under 'CORE Highlights' for the official CORE press release.
Our Team A, consisting of Captain Wil Kilpatrick and Team Members Avi Baehr, Seth Waddell, Helen Zhang, and Alternate Zack Yang, took First Place at the Chesapeake Bay Bowl Regional Competition; this is TJ's second victory in 2 years competing there. The team members won, among other prizes, a boat trip on the Chesapeake, a one-year membership to the Baltimore Aquarium, SCUBA lessons for them and their families, a water testing kit for Mrs. Wu, and an MP3 player each; oh, and of course, an all-expense-paid trip to Monterey, California to compete in the National Ocean Sciences Bowl Competition in May.
Our Team B, consisting of Captain Aimee Zhang and Team members Alex Kim, Catherine Kim, Oleg Lazarev, and Alternate Colleen Zhu, took Third Place at the Chesapeake Bay Bowl Regional Competition; this was the first time ever that a second team from Thomas Jefferson competed in an NOSB Regional competition. As well as earning several prizes for themselves, they made Mrs. Wu the proud owner of not one but two water testing kits : D .
Our team took home the big trophy at the Chesapeake Bay Bowl at American University on February 12, 2005, which was open to teams from Northern Virginia (like us), Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Washington, D.C. Congratulations to us! This meant that we were able to attend the National competition held in Biloxi, Mississippi on April 22-25. This was also the first year that we competed in the Chesapeake Bay Bowl, having been switched from the Blue Crab Bowl to it in an area realignment. Being part of the Chesapeake Bay Bowl means that the long-standing competiton rivalry between Thomas Jefferson and Montgomery Blair is carried out in Regionals rather than in Nationals.
Speaking of Nationals (held in Biloxi, Mississippi on Friday April 22-Monday 25), we also did well, placing second in our division and almost making the Top 8. Our team consisted of Captain Cory Pender, Members Wil Kilpatrick, Katie Mercer, Ashley Kang, and Alternate Liz Cranmer.
