Program Update: National Ocean Sciences Bowl – August 2012
In August, the National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB) welcomed a new Director, Kristen Yarincik. Yarincik has worked at the Consortium for Ocean Leadership since 2001, where she has managed large science programs, including the Census of Marine Life and the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative.
The NOSB is excited to announce the release of the final report covering the last five years of its longitudinal study of NOSB students. Understanding the great importance of program evaluation, the Consortium for Ocean Leadership and the College of Exploration designed a study, beginning in 2007, to identify and describe the link between NOSB participation and the educational and career pathways of the high school students taking part in the program. A key task in this study has been the exploration and documentation of this link between NOSB participation and the education/career choices of participating students as they migrated from secondary school into college and from college into graduate school or the STEM workforce. For example, 45 percent of graduates stated they are employed in an occupation or organization that is clearly STEM-related and 19 schools/districts have implemented a marine science class due directly to the high schools’ participation in NOSB. To learn more about the impact of the NOSB program by reading the full report, please click here.
In July, the top teams from the 15th Annual National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB) Finals competition took their awards trips and summaries from those trips are now available. The 2012 NOSB national winning team, Marshfield High School from Marshfield, Wisconsin, went on a seven-day trip to Hawaii. The students spent the first three days exploring the island of O’ahu, where they snorkeled around Hanauma Bay and helped restore an 800-year-old fishpond, which was used by native Hawaiian for sustainable fishing practices. The team also explored the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, the Waikiki Aquarium and Pearl Harbor. The next part of the trip took place on the Big Island. In Kona, the students experienced a night diving adventure with manta rays and a day snorkeling trip to with the company Liquid Robotics and their underwater glider. They also received a behind-the-scenes tour of the Mauna Loa Observatory, which is the site of the longest continuous record of CO2 in the atmosphere, and the Volcano National Park. During a sunrise snorkel, the team explored the Wai’Opae marine sanctuary. The trip concluded with a tour of the National Energy Laboratories of Hawaii and their one-of-a-kind use of deepsea water to cool and power the facilities.
As the second place team at the NOSB Finals, the students from Raleigh Charter High School in Raleigh, North Carolina were awarded a five-day trip to Ocean Springs, Mississippi. The University of Southern Mississippi’s (USM) Gulf Coast Research Laboratory hosted the students and provided them with opportunities to join researchers aboard the lab’s research vessels. They spent one day catching sharks with hand lines, as well as rods and reels, measuring and tagging the sharks for scientific research. They also traveled nearly 30 miles offshore to explore the Chandeleur Islands, a chain of barrier islands which were greatly affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The team also traveled to St. Andrews State Park in Florida to enjoy a day of snorkeling and body surfing. Also included in the trip was a day in New Orleans, Louisiana, which included tours of the World War II museum and the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas. The trip ended with a tour of a typical southern shrimp boil with the USM Marine Education Center staff.
The students from Lexington High School of Lexington, Massachusetts, who placed fourth in the 2012 NOSB Finals, were awarded an educational and experiential trip to coastal North Carolina. The four-day trip involved exploring the marine environment and learning about marine science research going on in the barrier islands of North Carolina. The trip began with a SCUBA experience off Radio Island with Discovery Diving and a tour of University of North Carolina’s Institute of Marine Science. The students visited Duke’s Marine Lab and sailed on the R/V Susan Hudson to Shackleford Banks. They also participated in a sea turtle necropsy with North Carolina State University’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology and toured Carteret Community College’s aquaculture center. The trip ended with a clam bake from clams caught in a nearby estuary. For photos of all the awards trips, click here to visit the NOSB Facebook page.
On September 10-12, the NOSB will hold the 2012 Regional Coordinator meeting at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, School of Continuing Education.
