Last weekend, the Science Bowl Team won the 2015 Illinois State Science Bowl Tournament to compete at a national event in Washington, D.C.

The team will fly to D.C. over the weekend of April 30, and all expenses are paid for by the U.S. Department of Energy, according to senior captain Nishaad Navkal.

“This is the first time in four years that we’ve made it,” Navkal said. “It seems like it’s an amazing experience. “

The team defeated Hoffman Estates, Neuqua Valley, IMSA and Stevenson high schools to earn their spot at D.C. In addition to the competition, the team will get an exclusive tour of America’s capital and have the opportunity to network with members of the government as well as heads of various energy departments.

“The experience outside of the tournament is amazing in itself,” Navkal said.

According to Navkal, in addition to team practices, each individual member of science bowl has been engaging in independent reading to prepare for nationals.

Senior Brandon Coy said the State Science Bowl Tournament was one of the team’s only indicators for how well they had been performing.

“We can only really tell how we’re doing at practices, and we were doing pretty well,” Coy said. “But we couldn’t really compare ourselves to any other team before the competition.”

Navkal and Coy are both looking forward to their trip to Washington D.C., as well as the opportunities they will find there.

“Science bowl really develops a broad interest in science and technology as a whole,” Navkal said. “This is just a really big tournament for us.”