ANN ARBOR—Following a hard-fought, day-long series of matches, a team from Ann Arbor’s Huron High School won top honors in the Second Annual Midwest Regional Competition of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl held at the University of Michigan. The team advances to the National Ocean Sciences Bowl Finals in Washington, D.C., April 10-12, to compete for the national title.

A team from Birmingham Groves placed second, followed by Sterling Heights and Dexter high schools. Congresswoman Lynn Rivers (D-MI) presented team plaques, individual medals and cash awards of $500 to the first place winner, $250 to the second place winner, and $125 to the third and fourth place teams in support of science education programs at the winning schools. ERIM International Inc. and U-M contributed to the cash awards.

The event is an academic “quiz bowl” competition among high school teams on ocean science topics including physics, chemistry, biology, geology, social sciences and technology. The Midwest competition is one of 18 regional events being held across the United States to promote literacy in science and mathematics through improved understanding of the world’s oceans.

Members of the winning Huron High team included: Susan Chung, Melissa Clouse, Deena Tin, Emily Wu. Terrence Pokela was their coach.

Second place in the event went to Birmingham Groves High School. Team members included: Kimberly Chik, Sander Dijkers-Jacob, Kalman Nanes, JaMel Nelson, Ryan Timmons. Coach was Dan Inloes.

The third place winner was Sterling Heights High School. Team members included David Burkett, Daniel Coatta, Kiran DSouza, Sze-Ling Ng, coached by Fernando Suarez.

Fourth place went to Dexter High School. Team members included: Jill Ewing, Patrick MacAlpine, Lucas Porinsky, Karen Statler, Jeremy Vanderput. The team was coached by Dianne Stephenson and Cheryl Wells.

Co-hosts and sponsors included NOAA‘s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, the Michigan Sea Grant Program, the U-M’s Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research, the U-M Center for Great Lakes and Aquatic Sciences, and ERIM International Inc.

Nationally, the Ocean Bowl competition is coordinated by the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education and the National Marine Educators Association with support from NOAA, the Office of Naval Research, the Oceanographer of the Navy, the National Science Foundation, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

NOAAConsortium for Oceanographic Research and Education