The winning Princeton Charter School team. (l-r) Coach Laura Celik, Audrey Huang, Gavin Josh Macatangayer, Aaron Wang, team captain Amelia Huang, and Rohan Srivastava. Photo by Elle Starkman/PPPL Office of Communications.

Two teams from schools in Princeton have won titles this year at the New Jersey Regional Science Bowl at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in Plainsboro.

Students answered challenging questions in science and math for the competition. The math-related questions often required lightning-quick calculations.

The Princeton Charter School team took first place in the middle school contest, competing against five other teams.

Princeton Charter School defeated the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional Middle School team for the charter school’s fifth win in the New Jersey contest. Bridgewater-Raritan came in second, and the John Adams Middle School of Edison Township won third place. The team from Lawrence Middle School won the school spirit award this year.

The charter school team included twins Amelia Huang and Audrey Huang. Amelia Huang, the captain of the team, said she enjoyed learning about new topics to prepare for the contest.

“Participating in the Science Bowl has taught me a lot,” Amelia Huang said. “I think it’s fun to learn information that I can use later.”

The Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science team won the high school competition on Feb. 25, defeating High Technology High School in the final round. Princeton High School came in third. More than 30 teams competed in the high school contest.

Students from both winning teams will travel to Washington, D.C., to compete in the National Science Bowl from April 27 to May 1.

Justin Feder, the captain of the Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science team, will be going to the national competition for the fourth time after winning previous contests as a Princeton Charter School student.

After two years of an online contest, the science bowl returned to an in-person, head-to-head double elimination contest this year.

“It was great having people back,” said contest organizer Deedee Ortiz. “The kids are much more enthusiastic since they’ve been away for so long.”