Michelle Obama honors student science bowl winners

WASHINGTON - First lady Michelle Obama told middle and high school science teams yesterday that the nation will need their skills and enthusiasm to prosper.

Obama visited the Energy Department's National Science Bowl and read bonus questions during the middle school championship match.

"We want young people energized in the way that you all are, because we know that American brainpower in science and math has always driven this country's prosperity," she told the group after the two winning teams received their trophies. "We are going to need you."

Obama said that the nation depends on the next generation of innovation. She challenged the students to help build the future of medicine, clean energy and security.

During the middle school competition, Obama asked 17 bonus questions of the two finalist teams. Her questions covered multiple areas of science, including potential functions of the appendix, what the letters and numbers stand for in the H1N1 flu virus, the protein content of blood and studies on the San Andreas fault in California.

Afterward she joked that she had to study just to properly read the questions.

Albuquerque Academy from New Mexico won the middle school science bowl and North Carolina School for Science and Mathematics from Durham, N.C., the high school competition. Regional science bowl winners from 105 middle and high schools traveled to Washington for the national competition. The teams represented 42 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu served as the senior science judge during the middle school competition. - AP