Blue Valley West High School - Kansas Regional High School Science Bowl
Coach Heather Hall and Coach Chelse Skakal are both biology teachers who co-coach Science Bowl. Coach Hall has a Ph.D. in genetics and cell biology from Washington State University and has been teaching for eleven years. Before beginning her teaching career, Coach Hall worked in a research lab studying the maternal age effect in a mouse model. Coach Skakal has a master’s degree in education administration from Emporia State and has been teaching for eleven years. Coach Skakal’s favorite activity each school year is teaching animal anatomy and physiology through dissection.
Puneet Bagga is a junior who enjoys earth science and remembering obscure facts about random events. At school, he participates in debate, Science Olympiad, and races against deadlines. While not stressing about school, he enjoys long bike rides while listening to music. At home, he tries to recreate recipes from cooking videos on YouTube and playing video games. In the future, he hopes to help address climate change by designing innovative solutions. An interesting fact about Puneet is that he often gets confused with the Punnett square, which leads to confusing conversations about his true identity.
Alan Abraham is a senior at Blue Valley West whose favorite subjects are physics and calculus. This is his third year competing at the national tournament and he hopes that his team will be able to make the elimination round this year. His favorite extracurriculars aside from Science Bowl are Science Olympiad and Project BEST. Outside of school, his hobbies include playing piano, baking, and watching Anime. His favorite piano piece is Nocturne in E minor, Op. 72. In the future, he hopes to major in physics or engineering.
Rohit Chand is a senior whose favorite subjects are calculus, physics, and programming. Being a STEM-enthusiast, he has been involved with Science Bowl for six years and is excited to be competing at nationals. Additionally, Rohit is regularly involved in Science Olympiad, Science National Honors Society, and Project BEST. However, in his free time, he enjoys hooping, dancing, and making s’mores with his friends and family. Rohit also loves exploring new places and enjoys traveling to experience new sights, language, food, and music. He plans to pursue engineering in college and one day start his own business.
Aastha Sharma is a junior at Blue Valley West High School, and a second time national Science Bowl participant. Even though she is a notable energy main, she also enjoys studying chemistry and biology. Specifically, organic chemistry and biochemistry are her favorites. Her favorite element is arsenic, and Aastha chose arsenic because a is the start of her name. Some of her other hobbies include biking, singing, and dancing (without falling).
Abi Kothapalli is a senior whose favorite subjects include chemistry, math, physics, and computer science. Outside of Science Bowl, Abi is a part of Mu Alpha Theta, Science Olympiad, Science National Honor Society, and DECA. He also enjoys sharing his passion for science with younger students through science outreach organizations such as Project BEST. Abi has an avid interest in artificial intelligence and the field of bioinformatics, which he hopes to pursue in college. In his free time, he enjoys watching Anime, traveling, trying new food, listening to music, and hanging out with his friends and family. Abi plans to major in either math or computer science in college.
