Note: The story has been updated to add the names of Brighton students who received first or second place.

Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com

The Brighton High School and Scranton Middle School Science Olympiad teams performed extremely well at the 2025 Science Olympiad Regionals, held this past weekend at East Lansing High School. They are coached by Shannan Pereira, an engineer and Brighton parent who has been the coach of the two groups for 12 years.

The Scranton group placed runner-up out of 18 schools, just behind Chippewa Middle School of Okemos. The BHS contingent was third at the varsity level out of 21 high schools, behind winner Okemos and 2nd place East Lansing. All 6th-place finishers on up to first place winners in individual events took home medals. Brighton also fielded two alternate teams at the high school level - nicknamed the “black” and “white” teams, and one alternate team at the middle school level - the “black” team.

The only other Livingston County area school which fielded a team was Hartland, with a cadre of high school competitors, which placed 10th.

After the meet, Pereira told WHMI, “I’m extremely proud of all of our kids,” adding, “They went above and beyond in the competition.”

Both the Brighton High and Scranton Middle Schools qualified for the state Science Olympiad tournament, to be held April 26th.

Brighton students who received 1st or 2nd place:

First Place - Scranton Middle School
Crime Busters - Audrey Kincer and Averie MacDonald
Ecology - Kennedy Skinner and Sadie White
Entomology - Audrey Kincer and Gabe Szornyi
Experimental Design - Kahlan Ibrahim, Riley Skinner and Sadie White
Optics - Gabe Szornyi and Fiona Wells
Write It Do It - Delaney Harvill and Sadie White

Second Place - Scranton Middle School
Air Trajectory - Trevor Nickerson and Gabe Szornyi
Crime Busters - Brayden Cepeda and Madeleine Moore
Disease Detectives - Audrey Kincer and Kennedy Skinner
Dynamic Planet - Madeleine Moore
Microbe Mission - Audrey Kincer and Averie MacDonald
Mission Possible - Cameron Roehrig and Lillian
Tower - Andrew Murray and Riley Skinner
Wind Power - Trevor Nickerson and Gabe Szornyi
Write It Do It - Evelyn Gruelich and Liz Nuss

First Place - Brighton High School
Robot Tour - Chris Kafkakis and Sutton Rose
Wind Power - Max Catignani and Chris Kafkakis


Second Place - Brighton High School
Codebusters - Lydia Fabry, Nicholas Kafkakis, Shawn Walker
Ecology - Lindsey Gowin and Chris Kafkakis
Electric Vehicle - Andrea Bachelor and Abby Brown
Entomology - Sebastian Cosma and Grace Davis
Experimental Design - Hannah Heckel, Holly Heckel and Jack Risner
Write It Do It - Lindsey Gowin and Shawn Walker

The groups competed in 23 events, including:
Air trajectory
Anatomy
Astronomy
Bungee Drop
Chem Lab
Codebusters
Disease Detectives
Dynamic Planet
Ecology
Electric Vehicle
Entomology
Experimental Design
Forensics
Fossils
Geologic Mapping
Helicopter
Material Science
Microbe Mission
Optics
Robot Tour
Tower
WIDI
Wind Power