Five ambitious eighth-graders at East Valley Middle School recently took second place in the hydrogen fuel cell car competition at the regional Science Bowl held in Billings.

Will Nordahl, Ian Beagles, Jenna Krum, Jill Pierson and Emily Schwaller competed against 10 teams from around the state and also placed in the academic portion of the competition.

Their science teacher, Alyson Mike, is proud of how hard the students worked.

“The time they put in was phenomenal,” she said. “They are all highly motivated and gave up their lunch period for a long time (to prepare for the bowl).

Schwaller described competing in the science bowl as a “whole new experience.”

“It was fun to do something non-sport related but still a competition and I still got nervous,” she said.

Schwaller said participating in the event helped her with science learning.

The questions about astronomy came easy for Beagles, who recalls the easiest question was “What is the brightest planet?”

Beagles easily answered that in the night sky in this state it is Venus.

He said the hardest questions were algebraic.

“Even most of the adults and coaches didn’t have a clue how to figure them out,” Mike said.

The hardest part for Pierson was to know what to study, she said.

“Each team member became an expert in an area, so it was hopefully all covered,” said Pierson.

This is the third year Mike took a team of students to the Science Bowl. Team members were selected by a letter of invitation to those who were strong academically in science, Mike said. Those interested took a test covering subjects in biology, earth science, math and physics. The five students who scored the highest were selected for the team.