Scholastic Bowl is the place to go to see some of the smartest and most competitive students that attend OPRF. Participants are challenged with questions, spanning across a variety of subjects.

Answering questions right helps advance your team. In the end, the team which has answered the most questions correctly wins. As sophomore member Kevin Kodama puts it, “Scholastic Bowl is about just happening to know things.”

OPRF’s Scholastic Bowl team has held a solid standing over the past couple of years, but it seemed as if that was at risk at the end of the 2015-16 school year, when many of the team’s most valuable members graduated, leaving behind a team of incredibly smart, but less experienced successors.

However, these fears were put to rest when Kodama stepped into the spotlight.

A member of the Scholastic Bowl team, Sanjeev Venkatesan, put to words the impression that Kodama has already set for himself. “Even after losing three of our best players last year,” Venkatesan explains, “Kodama has helped support returning members such as Anishka Bandera and I.”

His teammates say Kodama’s attitude has also set the stage for an impressive career in Scholastic Bowl. “What really sets Kodama apart,” Sanjeev elaborates, “is his devotion to the game.”

Kodama, as many competitors do, has reasons for participating other than the chance to win. Kodama mentions, “It made me feel validated for learning stuff, regardless of what that stuff is.”

Perhaps the most exciting prospect for Kodama is that he is only a sophomore, which means that he will have two more years after this season to achieve even more for the team. Venkatesan notes, “As a sophomore, Kodama has incredible potential, and I can safely say he will be among the top players in the state within the next two years.”

Kodama is only at the beginning of his Scholastic Bowl career, and the proverbial splash he has already made an impact on the school climate. With the amount of potential Kodama holds, he has the opportunity to bring the OPRF Scholastic Bowl team to state, or even nationals, so keep your eyes peeled and an ear to the ground, because Kodama Kodama very well may find himself in the spotlight again sometime soon.