By By EDWIN MODLIN II
edwin@wdnweb.com
Staff Writer
Two local oceanography science teams from Washington High School are going to compete in a National Ocean Sciences Bowl next weekend at East Carolina University.
The coach of the Ocean Bowl, also called the Blue Heron Bowl, is Clay Campbell. He has been an oceanography teacher for more than 20 years and says he loves every bit of it.
“The Ocean Bowl is a national state-wide competition,” Campbell said. “It’s a quiz bowl tournament about Marine Sciences, using standard buzzing questions. Washington has been competing in the Ocean Bowl since 2001.”
Kay Evans, who works in the Institute for Coastal Science and Policy, said Campbell was also the first coach to register his team this year.
“I could tell from his former students, that came to Raleigh from Chapel Hill for the training session, they loved the experience of being in the Blue Heron Bowl while at Washington High School and their high regard for Clay as their coach,” Evans said.
Campbell has been coaching the bowl for the past 12 years. This year, he will be coaching two teams with 10 kids total, all of whom are from Washington High School.
Team One consists of seniors Emily Lobos, Casey Lewis, Holly Alligood, Johnny Broadway and junior Erin Stowe.
Team Two consists of seniors Cameron Ashley, Dylan Bowen, Jeff Swanner, Beth Bachelor and Kristi Wood.
Evans added that the Blue Heron Bowl is North Carolina’s regional competition of the NOSB. The NOSB is coordinated by the Consortium for Ocean Leadership.
“The winning team of the Blue Heron Bowl will qualify for the NOSB national competition in Galveston, Texas,” Campbell said. “This all-expense paid trip will allow the winning team from North Carolina to compete with other regional winners.”
This will be the first time ECU will be hosting the tournament. Locations in the past have been at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and more.
According to Campbell, since this is the first year the Bowl will be hosted by ECU, it is an excellent opportunity for ECU to attract and recruit smart, science-minded high school students.
Eighteen teams have registered, each comprised of five high school students (grades 9-12), with most of the competition in round robin format. Competition will be all day Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011, in the Bate Building.
Campbell added two hard-hitting schools that will be competing in this year’s Bowl will be Raleigh Charter School and the School of Science and Math.
Campbell said the competition format will be similar to that of the game show, Jeopardy. However, there will be a toss-up with four multiple-choice answers, a bonus basic question with no choices provided, and a team challenge where the team is allowed time to discuss among themselves and then present an answer.
The categories that they’ll be quizzed on will be biology, chemistry, geography, geology, marine policy, physical oceanography, social sciences and technology.
However, as competitions go, they do need sponsors and volunteers to help both Friday night and all day Saturday. Evans said they can volunteer for only portions of the day if that’s all they can do.
Sponsors can put forth donations that will be used for one night’s lodging in Greenville, mileage reimbursement for teams’ transportation, dinner on Friday and lunch on Saturday, and for prizes for the winning and runner-up teams. The team that demonstrates the best sportsmanship (voted upon by the judges) will also receive prizes.
“This is something they can definitely put on their college applications,” Campbell said. “As well as use it to apply for scholarships.”
Campbell has had one student study Oceanography in college, however, she was not on one of his bowl teams.
To find out more about the National Ocean Sciences Bowl, log onto the event websites, which are www.ecu.edu/icsp/bhb/2011/ and www.ecu.edu/icsp/ICSP/Home_files/HeronSquare_Long.gif.