Van Nuys Science Team Heads to Nationals

Physics, chemistry, biology, computer science--all subjects that would make most students shudder.

But not the five members of Van Nuys High School’s science bowl team, who are gearing up for the national competition Saturday in Washington.

The Van Nuys team of Jonathan Kirzner, 17; Michael Chu, 17; Michael Mazur, 17; Scott Schneider, 16, and Do Joon Ra, 18, swept the Los Angeles area science bowl in February.

The team’s victory marked the first time Van Nuys High has won the event in the three years the Los Angeles area has been involved. Van Nuys, coached by Art Altshiller, a physics teacher at the school, took first place in the regional competition, beating Venice High, the reigning champions for two years.

About 50 teams participate in the national competition, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.

According to the rules, no class time can be spent on preparation for the science bowl. So the five Van Nuys students have been spending hours every day reading science textbooks, meeting at their homes and quizzing one another to get ready for the two-day event.

The team’s sponsor, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, has arranged field trips to power plants and meeting with engineers to augment the youth’s education.

“Any time they are not in class and they are together, these kids are talking about the science bowl,” Altshiller said.

He attributes the team’s success to their well-rounded science education at the math and science magnet program at Van Nuys High, because all the students not only take the advanced placement classes, but the tests as well.

“They are thoroughly enthusiastic and they learn a good deal about sciences they normally wouldn’t study,” he said.

The science bowl is divided into eight subjects: chemistry, physics, biology, astronomy, computer programming, math, recent scientific advances and noted scientists, and four team members at a time answer questions that are read.

Altshiller would not predict how his team would finish, but said he thought the East Coast teams will be very surprised at the tough competition they will get from the Van Nuys team.

In preparation for the big event, Altshiller said he is studying different foods rich in carbohydrates and proteins for the boys to eat before the science bowl. “They are also going to pre-program themselves to beat the jet lag,” he added.

Following are brief profiles of the five team members:

Scott Schneider

His teammates let Scott, the only junior among them (the rest are seniors), be team captain because they say he has a remarkable guessing ratio.

That is one of the responsibilities of the team captain, said Scott, a coolheaded and modest young man who excels in physics and chemistry.

The participants in the science bowl sit in groups of four, with one revolving alternate, and are first asked a “toss-up” question that anyone can answer by hitting the buzzer. The question must be answered within five seconds.

If the answer is correct, the team is given a “bonus” question that the team has 20 seconds to consult one another on. The team captain announces the answer.

Besides the science bowl, Scott is also a semifinalist in the Physics Olympiad, ranking him in the top 75 physics students in the United States.

But Scott is not one to flaunt his talents and achievements. About his study habits for the science bowl, he said: “I get a textbook and wait until the last minute and read a chapter a day. I do the problems at the end of the chapter if I have the time.”

Michael Mazur

Michael admitted that he did not spend much time studying for the regional competition but said he is definitely spending an hour to two hours a day, on top of his usual load of homework from advanced placement level classes, in preparation for nationals.

“We hope to win,” he said. “We think we have a good chance.”

He added, “And we know useless information that no one else will.”

Michael said he has enjoyed being on the team, and was excited to almost double the Venice High team’s score in February.

“I like the competition and the teamwork,” he said.

He explained that five seconds may sound like a short time to answer difficult science questions, but he said he does not think of it like that.

“You just have to answer as soon as you know it,” he said.

Jonathan Kirzner

Jonathan got the bug for testing his knowledge when he was on the Academic Pentathlon team in junior high school.

“I just really wanted to compete,” he said.

Although he can sit down and read a textbook for studying purposes, Jonathan said he feels especially motivated to learn when he can do so in a group.

“I like it when there are other people there to share the information with,” he said.

Jonathan said that he has learned a lot about earth science, which he normally would not have had he just studied the school’s science curriculum. However, he said he is still a great fan of physics.

Although he was happy about winning the regionals, he said, “I would have liked to have seen more LAUSD schools there.” Only 12 schools from the district competed at the regionals.

Michael Chu

“The other teams told us how good Venice was and that we didn’t stand a chance,” Michael recalled. Van Nuys had sent three teams to the regional bowl and each of the others lost to Venice High.

“But then we creamed them,” said Michael with a huge smile.

Michael said that their team was 10 points behind Venice High at the halfway point in the regional. “But we convinced ourselves that we had tied,” he said.

And it worked. Venice barely scored in the last half, he said.

Michael said he has learned a lot from the field trips that the DWP has taken the students on, including a meeting with an engineer.

“He was so excited that he kept going into detail,” said Michael, relating how the engineer overwhelmed the team with information. “But we got hard hats,” he added.

Do Joon Ra

Do Joon is the specialist in astronomy among the Van Nuys science bowlers.

He said he learned astronomy on his own by reading books he found in the library and borrowed from his teachers.

Like other members of his team, Do Joon has participated in other academic events, such as the Rockwell Computer Science competition. “I won first place last year,” he said.

“I knew that it would be a lot of competition and I really enjoy competition,” he said.

About the regional competition he said that at first he was nervous, but after a few games he gained his confidence.