ADAMS TWP — Nine brave and knowledgeable Mars High School students on Saturday will serve as the first teams from the district to compete in the Southwestern Pa. Regional High School Science Bowl.

The first round of competition will be held at the Community College of Allegheny County’s south campus in West Mifflin. Teams from 16 counties will gather to compete in the Science Bowl.

The students will be quizzed in the categories of biology, chemistry, Earth and space, energy, mathematics and physics.

Mars senior and honors student Michaela Valenta said Monday that she and a group of friends saw flyers for the competition hanging around the high school and decided they were interested.

She said her strongest subjects are biology and Earth and space.

“But I’ve never really been much of a math person,” Michaela said.

In addition to Michaela, the Mars teams include seniors Matt Leipner, Maria Monberg and Grace Steward; juniors Oscar Manjerovic and Geena Richards; and sophomores Rebecca Dvorak, Lukas Johansson and Jared Sable.

The seniors will comprise the main team from Mars, and the underclassmen the second team.

Both teams will compete against others in their division, which is one of eight divisions. There are eight teams in each division, and each division’s teams play each other once.

Based on results, the winning teams will be arranged into brackets and a double-elimination final round will eventually be played.

“I feel like the kids on our teams are very strong students,” Michaela said. “They have a very large knowledge base.”

She explained that toss-up questions will be asked by the moderator, and students on the teams will buzz in. The first to hit the buzzer will answer the question without help from their teammates.

A correct answer from the student results in a bonus question that the entire team can discuss before the captain gives the answer. The winning team will move on to national competition in the spring.

“I’m excited to see how it will go,” Michaela said.

Jacob Dvorak, an engineer at Westinghouse Electric who also has his master’s degree in physics and is a certified teacher, is helping Mars High School adviser Megen Harmon, a biology and chemistry teacher, prepare the students for the competition.

“I believe in engineering, and I wish to promote it to the younger generation,” Dvorak said Monday. “I think this activity is a great way to get them excited about science.”

He said the team practices about once per week.