Winning first place in the 2025 Tennessee Science Bowl is Ravenwood High School pictured left to right: Alexander Giannakoulias, Brayden Zhang, Aiden Yeung, William Ryland Hoskins, and Gabriela Estrada Losada. Not pictured: coach Avrill Buerstetta
The Tennessee Science Bowl takes place every February and is sponsored by ORAU. The competition offers teams of high school students from across the state of Tennessee a chance to show off their wits in math and science. Sixty teams from 43 schools competed in this year’s event, each hoping to take home the top prize. When the dust settled, the team from Ravenwood High School in Brentwood reigned supreme.
How it happened
The Tennessee Science Bowl is played in a question-and-answer format where teams attempt to answer toss-up and bonus questions. To kick off the competition, teams are randomly placed in divisions and play against other teams in their division during round-robin rounds. The top two teams in each division’s round-robin advance to the bracket rounds in the afternoon. Ravenwood High School and Mt. Juliet High School advanced all the way to the final round, and after a tough round of questions Ravenwood secured the victory.
What it means
In addition to earning bragging rights for their school, Ravenwood was awarded a trophy and a $1,000 cash prize for their school. The win also qualifies the team to compete in the U.S. Department of Energy National Science Bowl in Washington, D.C. (more on this later). Ravenwood was not the only school that left with a new trophy to add to their trophy case. Cash prizes and trophies were also awarded to the following schools: Mt. Juliet High School ($750 for second place), Collierville High School ($500 for third place), and Dobyns-Bennett High School ($250 for fourth place). Happy Valley High School received the Civility Award which is given to the team with the best sportsmanship throughout the competition. They were also awarded $100 and a trophy. Aside from trophies and cash prizes, the Tennessee Science Bowl inspires and encourages participating students to embrace their STEM talents and push themselves toward greatness in their academics and future careers.
Stat to know
Ravenwood High School advanced to the finals of last year’s Tennessee Science bowl, but they fell just short of the grand prize as Farragut High School took home the win. As fate would have it, they found themselves back in a familiar position this year with a much different outcome: 2025 Tennessee Science Bowl champions.
What’s next
The journey doesn’t end here for Ravenwood. Team members will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to represent Tennessee at the DOE National Science Bowl in Washington, D.C., from April 24-28. DOE created the National Science Bowl in 1991 to encourage students to excel in mathematics and science and to pursue careers in these fields. More than 344,000 students have participated in the National Science Bowl throughout its 34-year history, and it is one of the nation’s largest science competitions.