Salmon Bowl XII: High School Students Test Marine Science Knowledge
Filed under: News & Resources,NOSB,Understanding
Andy Cripe/Gazette-Times - The Crescent Valley Salmon Bowl team looks up answers after the fourth round of regional competition at Oregon State University Saturday morning.
You have to know about a lot more than fish to be the Salmon Bowl champion: Try some advanced oceanography, geology and biology.
High school students tested their knowledge of all aspects of marine sciences Saturday at the 12th annual event, held at Oregon State University.
Sixteen teams from Oregon and one from Washington vied for the chance to represent the region at the National Ocean Sciences Bowl in Washington, D.C.
Crescent Valley High School sent a team under the tutelage of science teacher David Beran.
Beran likes how the event promotes ocean sciences and offers a chance to interact with other schools.
Two of the team’s members, seniors Eric DeLander and Dana Wisseman, plan to study marine sciences after high school.
Crescent Valley practiced for the bowl using last year’s questions, which are posted online, but even that didn’t fully prepare them for some of the competition.
“They’re like Ph.D. questions,” DeLander said. “It’s just n”
“n ridiculous,” finished teammate Becca Wales, also a senior.
Particularly difficult were the chemistry questions, which touched on subjects like the calcium carbonate layer and chemosynthesis.
The format took practice, too. Teams went head-to-head in a morning round robin session, answering questions verbally and in writing.
“It is strategy,” Beran said. “Not only do you have to know the material, you have to be quick on the draw with the buzzers.”
Hard at work to host the event were student coordinators Joy Irby and Heather Baron.
The two worked with about 90 volunteers, many of them OSU students or professors, to make the event happen.
They were pretty low on sleep by the time Saturday rolled around, but had no regrets.
“It’s been crazy, but it’s been tons of fun,” Baron said.
The questions come from the Consortium for Ocean Leadership. Some of the questions even stumped Irby and Baron, who are both first-year graduate students in marine resource management.
“A lot of them I would never even know,” Irby said. “I’m completely impressed.”
