The Juneau Douglas ocean science bowl group visited the Alaska Sea Life Center in Seward through the “Tsunami Bowl” in March 2023. (Photo Courtesy of Shannon Easterly & Shelby Surdyk)
Right after college, empty pizza boxes lay stacked on a lab bench in Shelby Surdyk’s science classroom. The smell lingered as Juneau Douglas Higher School’s ocean science bowl group waited for coach Shannon Easterly’s subsequent query.
“What is the most endangered cetacean?” she asked.
A single student fired off a series of incorrect answers.
“Blue whale, sperm whale, bowhead whale.”
Easterly stopped him.
“It’s a teeny, tiny porpoise referred to as the vaquita,” she mentioned. “We do not know for confident, but there are significantly less than 20 folks.”
“Oh, I hate it,” mentioned Peyton Edmonds, 1 of the students, displaying her teammates a vaquita on her telephone. “That’s not cute.”
The group practices right here 3 instances a week, but Tuesday was their initial meeting due to the fact their win at Alaska’s “Tsunami Bowl” earlier this month. It is a statewide ocean science competitors. This year, in Seward, the college swept the buzzer-style competitors — the third year in a row that Juneau has won.
“Rest-A-Shored (left)” and “Free Radicals (ideal)” competed in the final round of 2023’s “Tsunami Bowl. (Photo Courtesy of Shannon Easterly & Shelby Surdyk)
The freshman group, “Yeah, Buoy,” won initial location in their division, even though A-group “Free Radicals” and B-group “Rest-A-Shored” faced off in the final round to win initial and second location, respectively.
Carson Carrlee, captain of Yeah-Buoy, was shocked. He mentioned competing in Seward felt distinctive from practices.
“Right soon after college, when you are quite tired and you have the A-group sitting ideal there, you are barely buzzing in. So it can really feel sort of like you do not know something,” he mentioned.
In the heat of the competitors, that changed.
“It seriously shows that you are truly mastering stuff,” he mentioned. “You’re truly beginning to grow to be, like, sort of a scientist-ish.”
The Tsunami Bowl, which was hosted by the University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Fisheries and Ocean sciences, is a lot more than a competitors. It is a crash course in all issues ocean science, with researchers and experts from about the state.
The Juneau teams visited a boat simulator at the Alaska Maritime Coaching Center, attempted a tsunami evacuation drill and went behind the scenes at the Alaska Sea Life Center.
The A and B-teams also participated in the study portion of the competitors, exactly where teams presented original study papers and oral presentations. This year’s theme was mariculture in Alaska.
Juneau’s students focused on the farming of geoducks, sea cucumbers and oysters. Easterly mentioned the student study efforts are her favored portion of the competitors.
“The buzzer is enjoyable,” she mentioned. “But that paper writing and then the chance to truly practice public speaking and present your personal study — to a crowd of not just your peers, but adults from all more than the state — is seriously precious.”
The Juneau Douglas “Free Radicals” will go on to compete at the National Ocean Sciences Bowl in 2024. (Photo Courtesy of Shannon Easterly & Shelby Surdyk)
Surdyk joined as a coach final year. She mentioned that the competitors attracts students who may not have an interest in ocean science initially. Some join mainly because their close friends join. Other people join for a smaller bribe — additional credit in science class.
“Even if they do not really feel motivated by the competitors, just to take pleasure in the procedure of mastering and learn that they like science, I believe is a massive reward,” Surdyk mentioned.
Carlee, a initial year student, says he’ll undoubtedly be back subsequent year.
“I like all my other clubs,” Carlee mentioned. “But NOSB. You seriously really feel like you are clever. And you are mastering stuff.”
And the ocean science bowl gets students to stick with STEM education, Easterly says. Tuesday’s practice was proof.
“We didn’t even inform them there would be pizza. And they came anyway,” she mentioned.
Subsequent year, Easterly will take the No cost Radicals A-group to the National Ocean Sciences Bowl competitors, exactly where they’ll compete against the winning teams from across the nation.
