Robert Frost Middle School Students Win National Science Bowl Regional Competition For Fourth Year Straight

A team of middle school students from Robert Frost Middle School in Rockville, MD won their regional competition for the 2024 National Science Bowl® (NSB) this past weekend and will compete in the NSB National Finals this spring, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), who sponsors the NSB, announced.

“Every year this ‘competition like no other’ brings together some of the most remarkable and inspiring students from across America.,” said Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, DOE Office of Science Director, “and I would like to congratulate the Robert Frost Middle School team as they advance to the National Finals! Good luck to you – our future scientists, visionaries, and leaders!”

Frost MS has earned first place honors in 2021, 2022, 2023, and now 2024- the fourth year in a row. This year, a second team out of Frost earned 3rd place honors. Frost’s 1st place team members include Abhijay Banerjee (Grade 7 team captain), Deven Balaji, Jincheng (Keven) Feng, Michael Chen, and Ritisha Harish (Grade 8). The 3rd place team includes Dritan Chakraborty (Grade 7 team captain), Arda Eroz, Luke Parrott, Sabreen Thukral, and Sofia Tejerina (Grade 8). Head student coaches include Digonto Chatterjee (12th grade), who has been coaching for four years with his older brother before him, Assistant Head Student Coach Yashaswin Shivaprasad (12th grade), And High School Assistant Coaches Cody Gao, Avinab Das, and Meghna Singh (9th grade). They are coached by science teacher Cheryl Levine.

The NSB brings together thousands of middle and high school students from across the country to compete in a fast-paced question-and-answer format where they solve technical problems and answer questions on a range of science disciplines including biology, chemistry, Earth and space sciences, physics, and math.

With this win, Frost MS qualified for the regional competition will be eligible to compete in the National Finals held in Washington, D.C., from April 25 – 29, 2024, with all expenses paid. The national event consists of several days of science activities and sightseeing, along with the competitions.

The top two middle and high school teams will win $5000 for their schools’ math and science departments. Other schools placing in the top 16 in the National Finals will win $1,000 for their schools’ science departments.

Today, the NSB annually draws more than 10,000 middle and high school competitors. Since the first competition in 1991, approximately 344,000 students have faced off in the National Science Bowl® Finals. The knowledge that former competitors have acquired and, more importantly, the collaborative skills and study habits that they learned along the way have led them to successes in a variety of fields. Many have become researchers; others are science and math professors.