The National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB) hosts regional competitions across 25 states in which over 400 high schools participate. In Alaska, the Tsunami Bowl is held for all high school NOSB teams within the state. The 2024 season consisted of groups from Juneau, Ketchikan, Bartlett, Seward, Dimond, and Eagle River. Seward High’s teams, So-FISH-ticated and the Seward Stingrays met from early September through March to get ready for the Tsunami Bowl.
Before attending the regional competition, the Seward teams flew to Ketchikan to attend the Joonax Bowl to practice. So-FISH-ticated consisted of Otto Nipp, Selah Bruekner, Gracie Russell, and John Van Buskirk and the Seward Stingrays included Maddie Haas, Emily Anger, Olive James, and Esme Wilder. Both teams were grateful to have two amazing coaches, Mica Van Buskirk, and Janice Haas who put in a lot of time and effort to these teams.
Along with the trivia-style quiz bowl, the competition includes a 15-page research paper and presentation that accounts for an amount of the total grade. The research question prompted by NOSB was “What resources can be harvested from the deep sea?” The Seward team composed their research papers in early December. So-FISH-ticated revolved their writing on accessing resources from hydrothermal vents, and the Seward Stingrays dived into some of the energy that can be harvested with tidal currents.
During the competition, every team presented their research essay in a 15-minute speech to a group of science judges. After practicing with Ms. Swander and Ms. Leslie, both SHS teams felt ready to pitch their research topics. After a great presentation, the SHS teams ended up taking first and second place, with So-FISH-ticated earning a grade of 93 and the Seward Stingrays receiving a 92.
After the successful day of speeches, the Seward teams did an Alaska Sealife Center experience and ended with a Major Marine boat tour in Resurrection Bay.
The following day, the teams met together to compete in the first rounds of the quiz bowl. Seward performed very well and ended up taking 3rd and 4th place out of twelve teams. After a close final championship round of the quiz bowl between Juneau and Ketchikan, Juneau ended up taking the win. Normally, the winners of a regional championship end up moving on to the final, national quiz bowl in the Lower 48; unfortunately, the national competition hasn’t occurred since Covid-19. Juneau, instead, was awarded a trip back to Seward during the summer.
The National Ocean Sciences Bowl is an incredible opportunity and experience to learn more about our aquaculture and Earth and is a great resource for preparing for more academic endeavors. If you are interested in joining for the next season, practices will be starting up once again in September.
