Volunteer FAQ

The National Science Bowl is a buzzer-style competition for teams of middle school and high school students from across the United States to see who can answer science and math questions the quickest. MIT Science Bowl hosts the official Regional middle and high school tournaments (Northeast Middle/High School Regionals) and a High School Invitational tournament. To see what Science Bowl is like in action, watch a recent National Science Bowl final here.

No! We welcome all interested volunteers to sign up. For those new to Science Bowl, two training sessions will be held before each tournament to help you get oriented to Science Bowl and the MIT campus. There are many opportunities and roles you can fulfill in each tournament, and we try our best to give each volunteer an engaging and fulfilling experience.

There are five roles that volunteers will be assigned to:

1. Moderator: You will read questions to competitors and determine the accuracy of responses. In Round Robin, this role will alternate with the Question Judge each round.

2. Question Judge: You will assist the moderator with ensuring the question is read correctly, controlling the buzzer system, and recognizing players that have buzzed in. In Round Robin, this role will alternate with the Moderator each round.

3. Timekeeper: You will keep track of the question timer and the game clock.

4. Scorekeeper: You will keep track of both teams' score during a round.

5. Admin: You will be assigned to the HQ with MIT Science Bowl board members to assist in important and miscellaneous tasks, such as responding to buzzer issues or distributing materials to competition rooms.

When signing up, you are able to list your role preferences; we will try to accommodate all volunteers' role preferences.

If you've never volunteered before, check out Volunteer Resources for guides to each role.

Breakfast, lunch, and snacks are complimentary for volunteering at any of our events! We will also provide a free t-shirt for you to wear at the event & keep. The most fun perk is watching competitors land some unbelievable buzzes :)

Feel free to refer to the official MIT online interactive map (whereis.mit.edu) to navigate the campus. Traditionally, our tournaments have been hosted in Buildings 4, 10, 26, and 56.