Princeton's John Witherspoon Middle School to Compete in National Science Bowl

The John Witherspoon Middle School team is heading to a national competition after winning first place in the 16-team New Jersey Regional Middle School Science Bowl on Friday, Feb. 20 at the Princeton Physics Laboratory.

John Witherspoon won the title by defeating William Annin Middle School in Basking Ridge in 11 rounds of competition.

It will now compete against 49 other teams in the National Science Bowl in Washington, D.C., April 30-May 4.

“It was really close,” Witherspoon team member Jeffrey Cheng said. “We were worried that we couldn’t pull through.”

“We got scared but decided to keep doing what we were doing,” Team Captain Lukas Eriksson said.

William Annin came in second place in the middle school competition. Highland Park won third place and also won the “school spirit trophy” for having the best sportsmanship of all the teams.

West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South won the high school competition the following day, and is heading to the national competition.

Photo # 1: The John Witherspoon Middle School in Princeton won the U.S. Department of Energy’s New Jersey Regional Middle SchoolScience Bowl at the Princeton Physics Laboratory on Feb. 20. From left to right: David DiMella, Team Captain Lukas Eriksson, Aaron Wu, Jeffrey Cheng, Hyun Tae Choi, and coach William Merritt. (Photo by Elle Starkman/PPPL Office of Communications).

Photo #2: The John Witherspoon team in competition in the final rounds of the U.S. Department of Energy’s New Jersey Regional MiddleSchool Science Bowl at the Princeton Physics Laboratory on Feb. 20. From left to right: David DiMella, Aaron Wu, Team Captain Lukas Eriksson, and Jeffrey Cheng. Team member Hyun Tae Choi did not compete in this half of the round. (Photo by Elle Starkman/PPPL Office of Communications).