Science Bowl ‘Buzzes’ Into Fourth Place at Regional Competition

Jinseo Hong and Suhana Kaur

Team member and sophomore Melody Bao, alternate and junior Sandy Shanmuga-Nathan, co-captain and junior Kayley Winata, co-captain and junior Suhrith Muvvala, team member and junior Rishabh Garg and advisor and physics teacher Leanne Jimenez pose with the JPL sign at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) after the competition. “[Science Bowl] is a really fun way to apply knowledge because you don’t get game-show style application of knowledge in school,” Muvvala said. “So it’s, one, for the fun, and, two, because I already have to study for Science Olympiad or Biology Olympiad.”

Portola High’s Science Bowl team placed fourth in the JPL High School Regional Science Bowl at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on March 1.

Science Bowl competed in four rounds against other teams from Orange County and Los Angeles County. They advanced to the double elimination rounds and then the quarter-finals, where they were beaten by Troy High, according to alternate and junior Sandy Shanmuga-Nathan.

“I thought it was a lot of fun,” Shanmuga-Nathan, who was a first-time competitor, said. “In the beginning, the questions were not very difficult, so it gave me a chance to be able to answer a bunch of them and get that experience participating. And yeah, we’re definitely gonna go next year and try to make it to nationals.”

Science Bowl blends scientific knowledge and speed to create a buzzer-based competition where four-member teams race to earn points by answering questions on a variety of topics, such as biology, math, chemistry, physics and energy, according to co-captain and junior Suhrith Muvvala. While teams work together, members also specialize in specific subjects, such as space and earth science, according to team member and sophomore Melody Bao.

“Each person is responsible for solving their section of the problem or writing down the answer choices, so no teammate forgets what the question or the answers are,” Bao said. “So, teamwork plays a big role because when one person gets a question, the next one is a bonus question for extra points.”

Collaboration with non-verbal cues and comprehensive scientific knowledge are key to success. To train their group cooperation, the team practiced rigorously before the competition, according to Muvvala.

“We have team practices every week, so two hours, and we basically just go through practice sets and practice for buzzing speed and for strategy and teamwork,” Muvvala said. “Then individually, we have to study by ourselves, our own subjects, through either textbooks or YouTube or articles.”

While the team didn’t make it to the top three like they hoped, the experience was a rewarding one, according to Shanmuga-Nathan. They aim to work on areas where they struggled for the next competition.

“The main thing was speed,” Shanmuga-Nathan said. “A lot of the questions, we knew the answers, but they just buzzed it faster and so we weren’t able to get the points even though we knew the answers. That’s probably something we’d work on for next year.”

Portola High Science Bowl’s next competition will occur on March 29 or April 4 at UCLA Science Bowl.

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About the Contributors

Jinseo Hong, Staff Writer

Jinseo Hong is a staff writer for her first year on the Portola Pilot. She’s really looking forward to writing interesting sports news this year. This year, she hopes to pass AP classes that she takes for the first time. During free time, you can find her watching Netflix and scrolling every sort of Instagram reels!

Suhana Kaur, Staff Writer

Suhana Kaur is a staff writer for her first year on the Portola Pilot. She’s looking forward to writing stories (especially features!) and conducting lots of interviews. Aside from procrastinating on everything, she’s usually plugged into very loud music, saving the city (she’s Spiderman) or reading. She’s trying to write a profound novel, but it’s not going so well because she’s a procrastinator. Sometimes you’ll find her half-conscious scrolling on mukbang reels.

Kayley Winata, Centerspread Editor

Kayley Winata is the Centerspread Editor for her second year on the Portola Pilot. During Pilot, you can find her sipping her matcha latte (that she woke up early to make) or plotting her next cafe adventure with Nina. In her spare time, you can find her mindlessly scrolling on Pinterest, baking her heart out or listening to Faye Webster and Luna Li on repeat on Spotify. She is so excited to create cute centerspreads and work with everyone on Pilot this year!