Wolfie with Kim Knoll and Steve Ortega
The 2015 Bay Scallop Bowl, held on February 7th, 2015, was won by the team from Mt. Sinai High School, a perennial powerhouse at this event. They will now begin to prepare for the 2015 National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB) finals, which take place in Ocean Springs, Mississippi in late April. Great Neck South High School came in second and the “A” team from Midwood High School (Brooklyn, right by Brooklyn College) was third. For both Great Neck and Midwood, this was their highest finish ever.
Kim Knoll and Bill Wise want to send their sincere appreciation to the large SoMAS contingent among the 2015 Bay Scallop Bowl volunteers for all their efforts to make this bowl so successful, especially Mala Masson, who coordinated the volunteers.
The competition went forward with nary a hitch and “Wolfie” even put in an appearance at lunchtime. Frank Roethel had suggested we invite him.
Photos available on Google Photos.
Coverage by New York Sea Grant
Stony Brook, NY, February 10, 2015—The 2015 Bay Scallop Bowl—an annual, 14-year-running regional ocean science competition held this past weekend at Stony Brook University—was won by the team from Mt. Sinai High School (pictured above), a perennial powerhouse at this event. They will now begin to prepare for the 2015 National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB) finals. This 18th Annual event, to be hosted by the University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Coast Research Lab, is slated for April 23-26, 2015 in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
The winning team, as well as the other 15 high school groups of four or five students each, were tested through quick answer buzzer questions and thought-provoking team challenge questions.
The annual theme of the 2015 National Ocean Sciences Bowl and its local competitions was the science of oil in the ocean, a timely and relevant topic given that 2015 marks the five year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico. Since then, there have been many advances in our understanding about both natural and introduced sources of oil and their impact on the marine and coastal environment. The aim was to to impart that knowledge to students via this year’s theme.
The Bay Scallop Bowl is part of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB), which is a program of the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. Through this educational forum, the NOSB strives to encourage and support the next generation of marine scientists, policy makers, teachers, explorers, researchers, technicians, environmental advocates and informed citizens, to be stewards of the ocean. Most high school students do not have the opportunity to study ocean science as part of their formal coursework, which makes the NOSB one of the only ways students gain exposure to this field. Many past NOSB participants have moved on to pursue college degrees and careers in ocean science, helping to solve the growing environmental, economic and security issues facing our ocean and planet. In 2015, approximately 2,000 students from over 300 high schools participated.
The 2015 national NOSB program was made possible through the following sponsors:
- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
- Wendy & Eric Schmidt
- Deerbrook Charitable Trust
- G. Unger Vetlesen Foundation
- IEEE Ocean Engineering Society
- Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- The Curtis & Edith Munson Foundation
- Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Fdn
- Wells Fargo
- American Meteorological Society
- Leave Only Bubbles
- Russell B. Dobbyn & Puzzles USA
- University of Chicago Press
Additional support for the 2015 Bay Scallop Bowl was provided by:
- The Alfred & Jane Ross Foundation
- The School of Marine & Atmospheric Sciences of Stony Brook University
- New York Sea Grant
- The Institute for Ocean Conservation Science
- The Safina Center
- Coastal Steward, Adopt-A-Beach Program
For more information on the NOSB, visit www.nosb.org.