Delaware Sea Grant holds in-person Chesapeake Bay Bowl for high school students
The winning team, from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (B), Alexandria, VA, includes (left to right): David Yan, Emilia Sloan, Marta Anvelt, Kieren Sifer, Ethan Li and coach Shawn Stickler
For the first time since 2020, Delaware Sea Grant welcomed competitors to the University of Delaware’s Hugh R. Sharp Campus in Lewes to participate in the 2024 Chesapeake Bay Bowl (CBB).
The CBB is a regional competition of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB) where teams of four or five participants answer questions based on the marine sciences in a quick answer timed format and more complex team challenge questions.
Eight teams representing five different schools from Virginia, Pennsylvania and Delaware competed in this year’s competition, which took place from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. in the Harry L. Cannon Marine Studies Laboratory.
As the last few years of the competition have been held remotely, David Christopher, Marine Education Specialist for Delaware Sea Grant, said that everyone involved with the bowl was happy to have the event return to an in-person format.
“It was definitely a different feeling in the room. I think it was much more a feeling of gratitude, just being able to be together and learn together and be in that space,” said Christopher. “The volunteers loved it. We have some volunteers who volunteered twice virtually and had never done this in person. They were excited to see a real, in-person competition. There were claps and such when I said this was the first one to be held in-person again. They seemed to really want to be here and be face-to-face.”
The B team from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia took home first place. In the finals, they bested the A team from their same school.
In addition, State College Area High School Team A received the Sarah Tilman Sportsmanship Award.
The winning team received a three-hour trip on the R/V Joanne Daiber, while the second-place team received a tour of the Institute of Marine and Environmental Education (IMET), an aquaculture research facility in Baltimore. The third-place team received a program from Under the Sea, a marine education company in Virginia.
Moderators for this year’s event included Chris Petrone, director of the DESG marine advisory service, Jennifer Biddle, professor in UD’s School of Marine Science and Policy (SMSP), Topher Holmes, who works for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Leland Wood, a UD doctoral student who is a former NOSB competitor.
Science judges and Team Challenge Question graders for the event included Ed Hale, assistant professor in SMSP and a fisheries and aquaculture specialist for Delaware Sea Grant, Andrew Wozniak, assistant professor in SMSP, Joanna York, director of Delaware Sea Grant, and Sunita Shah Walter, assistant professor in SMSP.
Story by Adam Thomas