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Support Ocean Literacy by Volunteering to Help Students with the Chesapeake Bay Bowl

by
Bill Whorton

The National Ocean Sciences Bowl a competition for teams of high school students that is coordinated by the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance research, education, and sound ocean policy. Regional competitions, such as the Chesapeake Bay Bowl, are run by staff at universities, research institutions, Sea Grant programs, and aquaria, and rely heavily on a large, knowledgeable volunteer base.

For the first time this year, the Chesapeake Bay Bowl, which serves students from PA, DE, MD, and northern VA, will be coordinated by Delaware Sea Grant and the University of Delaware. The competition will be held on Saturday, February 1, 2014 at UD’s Hugh R. Sharp Campus in Lewes, Delaware - that’s right, at the beach - AND we are looking for volunteers!

In some regional competitions, the competitor to volunteer ratio can be close to 2:1 or even 1:1. These volunteers include university faculty and staff, museum and aquarium scientists and educators, graduate and undergraduate students, personnel from the US Navy and Coast Guard, and NOAA staff, all brought together for one purpose—to foster the next generation of ocean science professionals and ocean literate citizens—through good-spirited competition.

If you are interested in volunteering, in any capacity, all Regional Coordinators would love to have you! Jobs include everything from presiding over matches and reading questions (Moderator) to Science Judge to Rules Judge to keeping score or running the clock. Are you more into scoring the Team Challenge Questions? Each bowl needs several of these important volunteers!

I have volunteered with NOSB regional competitions nine times in the last eight years (yes, I still have all of my t-shirts!). I have served as Science Judge, Rules Judge, Team Challenge Question Scorer, Room Runner, and Chief Scorekeeper. Year after year, it is one of the most worthwhile programs I am involved in; I look forward to it every winter. I have been fortunate enough to work with all kinds of interesting marine science professionals, and even cooler, with volunteers who are former competitors.

Volunteering typically includes participating in a few training sessions in the weeks leading up to the event, and then committing a full Saturday to your competition. It’s a long day, but extraordinarily rewarding—these students are amazing to work with and watch! The knowledge, tenacity, and strategy the students demonstrate are remarkable.

For more information about volunteering, visit the Chesapeake Bay Bowl website: http://www.chesapeakebaybowl.org/

OR you can register as a volunteer for the Chesapeake Bay Bowl using this form: http://bit.ly/CBB2014Volunteer

Learn more about the National Ocean Science Bowl and the Chesapeake Bay Bowl by checking out this blog!