2025 Recap

Ominous skies loomed over Northwest Ohio early Saturday morning on March 15, 2025 for the 10^th edition of the BGSU Regional Science Olympiad, as hundreds of dedicated and determined competitors were not going let the gloomy weather forecast dampen their enthusiasm for the day ahead. Amazing bus drivers expertly navigated through the torrential downpour and tight spaces from campus construction exclaiming “Hooray!” as all teams arrived safely for the start of the competition.

The rain quickly cleared out as it turned it out to be an unseasonably warm and pleasant day to traverse between various campus venues including the glorious ballroom in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union and historic Moseley Hall. After several hours of intense and exhilarating competition, the day concluded with a rousing awards ceremony, this year livestreamed on WBGU with emcee Marc Hathaway, host of BGSU Brain Game, the best quiz bowl show on television.

While almost all teams had their own moments of glory medaling in multiple events, it was once again McCord Junior High coming out on top in the B division and Northview High School achieving the same feat in the C division. Each team has now won their division for the 10^th consecutive year at the BGSU regional.

McCord took home the 1^st place B division trophy by medaling in all 23 event and finishing first in 16 of them while achieving a total score of 44, nearly equaling their record of 39 set the previous year. Timberstone repeated their 2024 second place finish from a year ago with 77 points while showing tremendous depth with their second team-Team Silver-taking third overall with 113 points. McCord’s second team also had a strong showing with a 5^th place overall finish. Perennial state qualifiers Springfield and Arbor Hills again placed as the 3^rd and 4^th qualifiers, this time with Springfield coming out ahead by a small margin. Rounding out the top 5 schools and state qualifying teams was Van Buren for the second consecutive year. Several other B division teams medaled in multiple events including Oak Harbor, Springfield-Team White, St. Rose Catholic School, St, Joseph’s Maumee, and Paulding.

In the C Division, Sylvania Northview won first place as previously mentioned, medaling in 21 of the 23 events and taking first in seven. Their neighbors to the South, Sylvania Southview followed in 2^nd while earning the most first place finishes with nine. Northview’s second team-Team Black-also had an impressive showing as they placed 3^rd overall just 6 points away from 2^nd. Oak Harbor continued their steady rise in recent years as the third state qualifier, their highest finish in the BGSU Northwestern Regional, while medaling in 14 events and winning three. Springfield followed closely behind as the 4^th qualifier medaling in 10 events and just missing out in several others. The next five schools were in a tight battle for the last two state bids as these five teams finished within 50 points of each other. Perennial qualifier Shawnee claimed the 5^th spot, while relative newcomer St. Francis de Sales took the final spot for the first state bid in just their second year in the competition. Finishing just behind were Lincolnview and Anthony Wayne, each earning second place in one event and medaling in several others. Ottawa Hills finished closely behind with multiple medals and solid scores across the board. Several other teams had strong performances earning medals in multiple events, including Sylvania Southview-Team Brown, Springfield-Team White, Arlington, Tinora, Maumee Valley Country Day, and Paulding, who won gold in Forensics. St. Ursula also took 3^rd place in Fossils in their second year in the competition, while Bowling Green took 6^th in Wheeled Vehicle in their first year of Science Olympiad.

The successes of the Regional teams continued at the Ohio state competition, which is known as perhaps the toughest state tournament in the country featuring many past national champions and contenders. Northview broke through in the C division with a 5^th place trophy-winning finish, their highest ever in the competition. Sylvania Southview also had another strong performance placing 17^th, while Oak Harbor had its highest finish at the state competition at 22^nd.They were followed by Springfield in 27^th,  St. Francis in 29^th, and Shawnee in 35^th. In the B division, McCord led the region with a 7^th place finish just missing the podium after winning the 5^th trophy the year before. The remaining Northwest Ohio Division B teams had strong performances with Timberstone finishing in 17^th, followed by Arbor Hills in 30^th, Springfield in 33^rd and Van Buren in 34^th.  

The BGSU Science Olympiad is extremely grateful for the continued support of our sponsors including Platinum Sponsor Cenovus Energy along with BASF, ACS-Toledo section and the Mannik-Smith group. This event would not be possible without their support.

The BGSU Olympiad also could not function without the 100+ volunteers each year including event supervisors for the 46 events. Event supervisors and organizers included 12+ team coaches, 25+ BGSU faculty and staff, 10 graduate students from the BGSU Center of Photochemical Sciences, five BGSU undergraduate students, a process engineer, an industrial chemist, and a medical doctor. A special mention to Sarah Walz from Cenovus Energy for helping out with the Air Trajectory event on short notice. We are grateful for everyone’s dedication in making a memorable event for Northwest Ohio students.

We look forward to everyone’s return and some new teams for the 2026 edition of BGSU Regional Science Olympiad tentatively scheduled for pi-day March 14.