PUBLIC SCHOOL WATCH : Magnetic Attraction

The National Science Bowl, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, is one of the most rigorous and prestigious competitions of its kind in the nation. The five-year-old program aims to do far more than give the winners trophies that will gather dust on the family mantle; the contest seeks to inspire students to become America’s next generation of mathematicians and scientists.

This year, competition for an all-expenses-paid trip above the Arctic Circle to work alongside oil exploration scientists drew 8,000 participants from 1,600 high schools. When it was over, we’re proud to say, the team that emerged victorious was from the Van Nuys High School science and math magnet program. It won by scoring more than twice the points gathered by its closest rival in the finals.

You know that Van Nuys High has attracted incredibly gifted students when you consider the following fact: Nationally, 3.2 million students took the college entrance exam known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test; only 12 of them recorded perfect scores on both the math and verbal sections of the test. One of the 12 was Van Nuys High junior Jennifer Koo, and she wasn’t even on the squad that won the Science Bowl.

Members of the team, coached by physics teacher Arthur Altshiller, are Scott Schneider, Michael Chu, Michael Mazur, Jonathan Kirzner and Do Joon Ra.

Sounds like the magnet schools of the Los Angeles Unified School District are doing just what was intended: challenging the city’s best and brightest.