Bear Creek Student-Athletes Sign National Letter of Intent
Washingtoner/10140970

REDMOND, Wash. - Washingtoner -- Tess Bumiller has attended The Bear Creek School since the fifth grade. Bear Creek does not offer a softball team, so Tess has played softball for Lake Washington HS. She started her softball career at age five in the Redmond West Little League system playing first and third bases, but soon she found her true passion. Pitching. While at Lake Washington, Tess had an immediate impact including a District Championship in her freshman year. In 2020, Tess earned a spot with ai Bandits Fastpitch, a new, elite fastpitch softball organization led by Coach Joe Breer. Last summer, the Bandits U16 team took second place in the PGF Nationals Platinum Championship. The past 12 years have culminated with Tess signing her National Letter of Intent to play softball next fall at Utah State University where she is thrilled to become an Aggie.

More on Washingtoner

• City of Tacoma Awarded $2.25 Million in Federal Highway Safety Improvement Program Grant Funding for South 21st Street Corridor
• New Self-Service Sandbag Station at Tacoma Recovery and Transfer Center
• Contracting Resources Group Receives 2026 HIRE Vets Platinum Medallion Award
• Business News & Info Goes Inside Paragon FX Group's Hunt for Original Film Props
• Kitchen Table Economics: An Invitation to Think Differently

Zoe Smith has attended Bear Creek since grade 8. She was nine years old when she began playing volleyball at the Boys & Girls Club. A year later, Zoe began playing for Northwest Juniors Elite Volleyball Club and continued competing on club volleyball teams for the past seven seasons, helping her teams advance to Nationals twice. She started setting for her U14 team. During her first year at Bear Creek, Zoe found instant success playing the Middle School volleyball. Zoe made the varsity team as a freshman and was named captain her sophomore year. During her high school career, Zoe achieved 114 kills, 180 aces, 440 digs, and 1152 career assists. Next up Zoe will bring her setting talents to Central Christian College of Kansas where we know she will make an immediate impact for the Tigers.

Chad Pohlman, Bear Creek Athletics Director, says, "It is not every day that athletes the caliber of Tess Bumiller or Zoe Smith don the green and white at Bear Creek, and we are extremely proud of both these ladies for what they have done and who they have become."

More on Washingtoner

• Win a $5,000 VIP Family Experience at the 100th Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City
• CB Stuffer Announces Private Sale to Secure Future of Brand Growth
• The Fifth Annual "Bamboo Lantern Festival" to Illuminate Tokyo Mizumachi and Sumida River Walk®
• Iglesia.com Positioned in Multimillion-Dollar Domain Market with $10 Million Asking Price
• TCA VG: 2025 Funding Climbs to $9M across 43 Companies; Cumulative Returns Reach 5.3 MOIC & 22% IRR

About The Bear Creek School

Founded in 1988, in Redmond, Washington, The Bear Creek School https://www.tbcs.org/ provides a challenging academic curriculum taught from a Christian worldview. Our graduates qualify for acceptance into the finest colleges and universities and are prepared to engage the world with wisdom, compassion, and courage.

Celebrating over 30 years, Bear Creek serves students from the greater Eastside and is housed on two campuses in Redmond, educating preschool to grade 12 students. The Bear Creek School is accredited by the Northwest Association of Independent Schools and Cognia (formerly AdvancED).