In the final match-up at the 10th Annual National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB) last weekend, April 28-30, the Northeast dominated the competition. With one win up, Cranston West (RI), regional winners of the Quahog Bowl, faced-off against Contoocook Valley (NH), winners of the Nor’easter Bowl. The crowd was tense with excitement as the final buzzer questions were answered and, by a small margin, Contoocook Valley came out victorious. The game then entered into a final playoff round, where Contoocook Valley took the lead and became the national champions!
This was Stony Brook University’s first time as the host of the annual NOSB finals, where the 25 regional champion high school teams competed to showoff their knowledge of the ocean sciences. The NOSB is a program of the Consortium for Oceanographic Research & Education (CORE), based in Washington D.C. The president of CORE, Rear Admiral Richard D. West, attended this year’s NOSB at Stony Brook, and presented the awards to the winning teams.
“The students competing in the National Ocean Sciences Bowl finals are exceptionally brilliant and are what make this such a special and prestigious program. These students are the future stewards of our oceans and we hope that they lead this nation to understand, conserve and protect our ocean resources,” West said.
The local, on-site planners of the event MSRC Associate Director Bill Wise, his assistant Kim Knoll, and MSRC Ph.D. student and NOSB volunteer coordinator, Lynn Abramson. Along with CORE staff, they managed every detail of the weekend including local field trips, plays, dances, and the competition itself.
Many people turned out for the NOSB finals including over 100 volunteers, local politicians, community members, and government officials. NOAA Assistant Administrator Rick Spinrad moderated the last 3 rounds and NOAA Administrator Vice Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher also spoke and presented some of the awards. The high school students form Poplarville, Mississippi, won the sportsmanship award after dressing and acting like pirates for the entire weekend! Lincoln-Sudbury H.S. of Massachusetts took 3rd place, and our local team, Churchville-Chili H.S., finished in 6th place, the best finish ever for a New York team in the NOSB finals!
MSRC Dean and Director David Conover praised all of the volunteers, including MSRC students, staff, faculty, alumni and friends, who helped to make the weekend a huge success. Conover stated, “The NOAA brass and admirals, CORE staff, individual teams, and all of their coaches and parents were effusive with praise over the way Stony Brook pulled together to make this event happen without a hitch.”
