Highland Park Middle School participated in the NJ Regionals of the National Middle School Science Bowl at the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab (PPPL) on Friday, 2/20/2026. A total of 16 schools from all over New Jersey, Delaware, Eastern Pennsylvania, and selected counties in New York participated in this tournament.
HPMS was represented by two teams:
Team A: Asena Erkan, Adam Hamadi, Ava Wang, Winnie Wang (Captain) and Omer Zelzion.
Team B: Josie Coneen, Ishaan Gade, Arbin Kafle, Quinn Wong, and Andrew Yu.
This year, only one team from each school got to participate in the tournament. Our Team A placed joint 9th, losing a close game (62-82) to the team that finished 3rd in the tournament. It was great to see our students competing strongly with the best schools in the region.
Members of both teams as well as other students in the Science Bowl club prepared rigorously for the competition on the topics across Physical, Life, Earth, and Space Sciences, and Mathematics. My best wishes to our 8th graders as they prepare for high school competition next, and look forward to our 6th and 7th graders returning next year with even more energy and experience! A special thanks to Dr. Karin Rabe, Professor at Rutgers, for volunteering as the co-coach of the Science Bowl Club.