Mountain View High School wins 32nd annual BPA Regional Science Bowl

After a day of hard-fought battles, Mountain View High School team 1 of Vancouver, Washington, faced off against Lake Oswego High School team 1 from Oregon to win BPA's 32nd annual regional Science Bowl. The high school event, which took place Feb. 24 at the University of Portland, followed the middle school competition on Feb. 3, where BASIS Independent from Bellevue, Washington, took first place.

Both winning teams earned a spot in the National Science Bowl taking place in Washington, D.C., at the end of April.

In all, 38 high school teams and 49 middle school teams from public and private schools across western Washington and Oregon competed in the BPA-sponsored events.

Second place in the high school competition went to Lake Oswego team 1, while Westview High School team 1 of Beaverton, Oregon, took third.

At the middle school competition, Redmond team 1 took second place, with Evergreen Middle School team 1 following in third – both schools hailing from Redmond, Washington.

The bowl is an intense contest of wits in a round-robin, trivia format showcasing students' talents in areas including science, technology, biology, engineering, energy and math. To host the events, BPA relies on volunteers – nearly 200 of them – comprised of mainly BPA staff, retirees and previous competitors who are eager to support and encourage a new generation of scientific minds. BPA Communication's Heather Bain and Elissa Haley coordinated both events.

Dorothy Copeland, a repeat Science Bowl officiant since 1993, said while the competition has changed over the past 30 years, the academic prowess and drive of the students continues to drive her participation.

“It was much different then," Copeland said. “We were doing it in downtown Portland, and we were walking between buildings with the students. My job back then was team guide, so I was taking schools in between buildings. They assigned me a school and I would spend the day with them."

Like many volunteers, Copeland invites younger generations to participate as much as possible to inspire their love of STEM.

“The kids just really impress me every year," she said. “It's so much fun to watch them. It seems like it comes so easily for them. I volunteer with my grandkids, and they love it every year."

Mahadevan Subramanian, a first-time volunteer, participated in Science Bowl as a high school student, having last competed pre-pandemic in 2019. He said even though his last experience competing was before the COVID-19 outbreak, BPA and student participants make the competition feel familiar.

“I think BPA and the students have done a really good job of making the competition feel like it did back when we competed before COVID," said Subramanian.  According to him, one thing that never changes is the ever-impressive skill of the student competitors.

“The kids are so smart," he said. “I could answer none of the questions that they are answering now. They are going so fast."

As Science Bowl encouraged Subramanian to pursue science in higher education, he hopes that he can inspire students to do the same through his participation in the event.

“It's really cool to see now, as a volunteer, how much work goes into this competition," he said. “I also love getting kids interested in science. This is why I studied biology in college, because I really enjoyed Science Bowl."

While the 2025 event dates haven't been scheduled yet, Communications expects them to be in February again. The volunteer recruitment period opens Nov. 1 on the Science Bowl Volunteer Information webpage.