Left to right: teacher Amy de Vries, Benjamin Le, Zoe Matzkin, Ainsley Fremont and Trevor Oakley.  Drew Johnson / The Forecaster

Four Cape Elizabeth high schoolers are heading later this month to the National Science Bowl, where their knowledge will be put to the test and they will enjoy what the all-expenses-paid trip has to offer.

Seniors Zoe Matzkin and Ainsley Fremont and juniors Benjamin Le and Trevor Oakley qualified for the national tournament after winning the regional Science Bowl last month, besting 11 other teams for first place.

“It’s going to be a head-to-head competition in which two teams are competing for the same questions,” Oakley told The Forecaster, comparing the National Science Bowl, hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy, to a quiz show format.

While winning the regional tournament provided the team with confidence, the national competition in Potomac, Maryland, April 27 through May 1, is going to be different.

“This year (the regional) was virtual, so things are quite a bit different from how they usually do it,” said Le.

During the virtual competition, teams were allowed to talk amongst themselves throughout the competition.

“We are practicing the buzzer system and specifically nonverbal communications,” Oakley said. “We won’t be able to do that in person, so we’re just trying to get better at communicating amongst ourselves and being able to just answer the questions with a relative amount of speed.”

While studying science is part of their preparation, there’s a point where that can become futile. The questions cover biology, chemistry, earth science, energy, math and physics.

“It’s very interesting how much science you can still learn as a student,” Le said. “All six of the subjects that the Science Bowl tests you about; you wouldn’t able to fully cover them if you had a full six years of college education on science.”

All four students plan to study science after graduation. Matzkin will be heading to Cornell University to study mechanical engineering, and “hopefully minor in aerospace engineering.” Fremont will be studying at Middlebury College where she intends to study math and physics.

As juniors, Oakley and Le don’t have destinations yet, but Oakley plans to study biochemistry, among other topics, while Le aims to study genetic engineering.

It’s all four students’ first year competing as the group, which had a team go to the national tournament in 2017 and came to a halt during the pandemic.

“What I think is impressive is this is all of their first times doing this,” said Amy de Vries, a Cape Elizabeth High School teacher who oversees the group. “This organization kind of died a little bit during the pandemic, and so Trevor (Oakley) came in and he’s been really organizing everyone, teaching everyone how the game works, and really brought it back to life.”

While it’s been an impressive rookie performance, the team has set some reasonable expectations for their competition in the nation’s capital, five days packed not only with tournament action, but review sessions, assemblies and speakers.

“I’m excited about the tournament itself, seeing the other people, likely losing to a few of them,” Oakley said. “We’ve already accepted that, so we’re ready to beat some of them as well.”

All four said they are looking forward to their trip, which also includes a nighttime tour of the monuments in Washington, D.C.

“I’m excited to just have it in person this time instead. Zoom was a little lonely,” Matzkin said. “Meeting other people with similar interests from all the other states would be fun.”

“I’m just excited to be going to Washington, D.C., really,” Fremont said. “I’ve never been there before.”