Bay Scallop Bowl 2010

Second place winners of the 9th Annual Bay Scallop Bowl:
Bronx High School of Science.
Back row: Coach Jerry Eng, a Bronx HS supporter, Diptesh Tailor.
Front row: ZiXiang Zhang, Kezi Cheng, Ho Chit Siu, and Matias Tong

Winners of the 9th Annual Bay Scallop Bowl: Mount Sinai High School.
From left to right : Coach David Chase, Coach Andrew Matthews, Russell Leibowitz, Nick O’Mara, Thomas Bundy, David Eberhard, and Kenneth Gunasekera.

Mount Sinai High School defeated Bronx High School of Science to win the 9th Annual Bay Scallop Bowl held at Stony Brook University on March 6, 2010.

The Bay Scallop Bowl is one of 25 regional competitions that take place nationwide as part of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl, an annual competition that tests high school students on their knowledge of oceanography and related disciplines.

New York State Senator John J. Flanagan

Before the competition began, students, parents, coaches, and volunteers were welcomed by SoMAS Dean David Conover, Stony Brook University Provost Eric Kaler, New York State Senator John J. Flanagan, New York Sea Grant Director Jim Ammerman, and Bay Scallop Bowl Co-Coordinator Bill Wise.

They all congratulated the students on their participation and encouraged their continued interest in the oceans and our environment.

After many rounds of competition between the 16 participating teams from across New York, Longwood High School, Locust Valley High School, and Bronx High School of Science had each lost only a single round, and last year’s Bay Scallop Bowl winner, Mount Sinai High School School, was undefeated.

Locust Valley High School then defeated Longwood High School to earn a spot in the semi-final match against Bronx High School of Science. Bronx High School won that match and a chance to take on Mount Sinai in the finals.

The final face-off was a competitive match between two well-prepared teams. In the end, Mount Sinai earned their second consecutive Bay Scallop Bowl victory and defeated Bronx High School of Science with a score of 67 to 54.

Event co-coordinators Kim Knoll and Bill Wise

Members of the 1st place Mount Sinai High School team will each receive a cash prize of $1000 and will represent New York in the National Ocean Sciences Bowl finals in St. Petersburg, Florida this April. Each member of the 2nd place team, Bronx High School of Science, will receive a cash prize of $750. Each member of the 3rd place team, Locust Valley High School, will receive $500.

The team from Farmingdale High School was selected for the 2010 Bay Scallop Bowl Sportsmanship Award and won several oceanography books for their team library. The Farmingdale High School team attended Saturday’s event planning only to observe the competition in order to prepare themselves to participate next year. But when another school dropped out, the Farmingdale team was willing to step in at the last minute and compete.

The Bay Scallop Bowl is supported in part by financial contributions from the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, the Alfred and Jane Ross Foundation, the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Battelle Memorial Institute, New York Sea Grant, the Blue Ocean Institute, the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science, and the New York State Marine Education Association. The oceanographic books for the winners of the Sportsmanship Award were donated by Janet Werner of Deer Park High School.

At the concluding ceremony, Bill Wise thanked his event co-coordinator, Kim Knoll, and volunteer coordinator, Anne Cooper Ellefson, as well as the more than 80 volunteers required to make the event a success.

He told the students: “The Bay Scallop Bowl is an opportunity to learn as much as you can about our oceans then pit yourself against other people who know the material quite well and see how you stack up. It has been wonderful to see the enthusiasm and good sportsmanship that you brought to the competition this year.”