Souhegan Students Prep For National Ocean Science Bowl

The Blizzard of 2013 will be remembered by many, especially the Souhegan students who have prepared for months for the annual National Ocean Science Bowl (NOSB) competition.

This year, the NOSB was supposed to be held on February 9th at the University of Maine, Bangor. Due to the blizzard, thought, the competition is now next Friday, Feb. 29th. The NOSB is a nationally recognized and highly acclaimed high school academic competition that provides a forum for talented students to test their knowledge of the marine sciences including biology, physics, chemistry and geology.  

The Ocean Bowl is sponsored by the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, an organization which represents leading oceanographic institutions and universities. Their mission is to enrich science teaching and learning across the United States. The organization pays for hotel and meals for all NOSB competitors and their coaches.

The competition consists of two types of rounds.  The first is a buzzer round where teams of four students compete against each other. The next round consists of team challenge questions.  Each team has to work together to solve word problems. This round requires more data analysis and collaboration than the first round.

Coach Julianne Mueller Northcott says that Souhegan always does very well in this round because of the collaborative piece.

“Souhegan students are at an advantage because they are used to problem solving as a group in school. Other schools attack the problem individually, but Souhegan students are quick to start working together to solve the problem. They really utilize the complex thinker skills they have been taught.”  

In addition to the academic challenge that the competition provides, it is also an opportunity to meet other science enthusiasts from schools in NH, Maine and Vermont.

Souhegan has been attending the NOSB for the past six years, and they have placed second two times. Team Captain Nikita Nizhnikov said “the questions really expand your thinking and it is a lot of fun.”  

The Souhegan Ocean Bowl members include: Miclyn Noorda, Rishi Nair, Tas Vamos, Alexandra Safarz, Jaime Freud, Nikita Nizhnikov. Service Learning Coordinator, Maggie Paul will accompany the team to the event this year, which is scheduled over February break. Math Teacher Terry Berna has also helped out the team at the competitions.