2022 Chesapeake Bay Bowl

UD hosted high schoolers from three states in the regional ocean sciences quiz bowl

Which organisms form the base of the food chain at hydrothermal vents due to their ability to convert carbon and nutrients into organic matter in the absence of sunlight?

What 1979 Act gave the EPA the power to monitor and regulate the disposal of sewage sludge, industrial waste, radioactive waste and biohazardous materials into the nation's territorial waters?

What part of a tidal cycle has minimal current?

After three rounds of competition covering 120 individual buzzer questions, plus bonus questions and six team written questions, the A team from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va. emerged as the winner of the 2022 Chesapeake Bay Bowl, held online by the Delaware Sea Grant College Program (DESG) and the University of Delaware College of Earth, Ocean and Environment earlier this month.

Nine teams from five schools in Delaware, Pennsylvania and Virginia competed in this year’s online version of the annual ocean science quiz bowl. The contest challenged high school students with questions in marine biology, physical oceanography, chemistry, geography, marine policy and more. And while Thomas Jefferson A was the repeat champion, the competition had plenty of new faces and rivalry.

“We have three new coaches this year and one brand new team from Sussex Academy,” said David Christopher, DESG Education Specialist and organizer of the event. “Almost every team got nominated at some point today for the Sarah Tilman Sportsmanship Award.”

The second and third place spots were taken by the two teams from State College Area High School in Pennsylvania, and the other Pennsylvania team, from Lower Dauphin High School in Hummelstown, ended up winning the sportsmanship award.

The winning team of four students and an alternate from Thomas Jefferson A will compete in the National Ocean Sciences Bowl in May, which will also be held virtually again this year. Although the format changes some of the dynamics of game play, eliminating the need to buzz in against an opposing team or the ability to steal points, it’s a format the students from Thomas Jefferson A have gotten to know well.

“We actually also went to nationals last year and did fairly well, but we're hoping to do even better this year,” said Isaiah Wang, a senior at Thomas Jefferson and the captain of their A team. After another success in the 2022 Chesapeake Bay Bowl and winning the opportunity to compete nationally again, Wang said it felt “amazing. A lot of hard work was put into this by my amazing teammates, our coach, and myself. Finding out we won regionals and are able to go to nationals was extremely rewarding.” 

Wang and his teammates practice together once a week during the school year, and they also study on their own. They have specialties among the various topics covered by the ocean sciences bowl competition, with one student concentrating on oceanography while another studies geology, for instance.

Both the regional and national bowls certainly focus on testing a wide range of ocean knowledge in friendly competition with other high school teams, but that isn’t the whole experience. A normal Chesapeake Bay Bowl includes a tour of UD’s Hugh R. Sharp Campus in Lewes and opportunities to hear from some of the researchers there. Even though that was not possible with an online competition, organizer Christopher put together a panel of UD graduate students and alumni to speak with the high schoolers the night before competition this year.

While they had different paths and study different areas of marine science, the students and alumni also gave some similar advice: stay active in science, take advantage of the expertise of faculty like those in UD’s School of Marine Science and Policy (SMSP), and perhaps most importantly, don’t worry, follow your interests, and trust it will work out.

Joanna York, DESG director and an SMSP faculty member mentioned by name by a couple of people on the panel, opened the evening with the same encouragement for the high schoolers to stick with their marine science studies.

“I‘m really impressed by all of you. I hope you’ll continue to learn about the ocean and the environment,” she said. “There are so many environmental issues to solve, and there are so many cool organisms to learn about. There are so many jobs related to the ocean, and I hope as you move through your education and start thinking about careers that you’ll end up in one of them.”

While some competitors, like Wang, do intend to major in oceanography when they get to college, not all of them will pursue marine science full time. But the ocean sciences bowl benefits students who don’t end up making it their career as well, providing better ocean and science literacy, connections at high schools and colleges beyond their own, and simply, fun.

“I got to meet various people who have now become close friends as well as find another academic interest,” said Wang’s teammate, Gregory Byun. While he won’t be majoring in marine science, “I do plan to take some classes regarding marine biology, geology, and planetary sciences.”

For anyone wanting to see how they did on the sample questions from the National Ocean Sciences Bowl that opened this story, the answers are chemosynthetic bacteria, the Ocean Dumping Act and slack tide, respectively.