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Kodiak's
High School's Tsunami Bowl participants are back after competing in Seward over
the weekend. This year's event featured a record number of participants: 22
teams with 105 students took part in the 13th annual regional
science competition. The Alaska Tsunami Ocean Sciences Bowl tests Alaska high school
students on topics related to the study of the ocean. The competition that took
place in Seward is part of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl.
The Kodiak team members are team
captain Bradley Hoyt, Nique de la Fuente, Rachelle
Medina,
Andrew Raney and Chrissy Jones. The assistant coach is Kodiak High School's
Kevin Lauscher and the coach is Switgard Duesterloh. She's a marine scientist
under contract with the district to bring more ocean science into the schools.
Duesterloh said that coaching the Tsunami Bowl team is part of that effort and
that she's very excited about the results.
-- (Tsunami Bowl 1 "It
went very ...winning matches there.")
Unlike
other academic competitions, which feature quizzes only, the Tsunami Bowl also
scores up to 25 points for a team research paper on a specific topic and up to
another 25 points for a presentation of the paper. This year's assigned topic
was "Problems facing Alaska
coastal communities as a direct result of a retreating and thinning Arctic ice
cap."
Kodiak's
team, also known as, "Weapons of Bass (b'ass) destruction," made its
presentation at 8:45 Friday morning. Their research effort was titled,
"Effects of Polar Ice Melt on Ocean Chemistry and Kodiak
Island's Economy and Energy Technology." Just as the title
suggests, the project was a large undertaking.
-- (Tsunami Bowl 2 "I think the ... a presentation
there.")
The student presentations
concluded on Saturday, after which the teams participated in the quiz portion
of the competition. Another part of the weekend's event was a juried student
art show which was displayed in the lobby of the Alaska Sealife
Center.
Duesterloh said she's already
thinking about the next Tsunami bowl. Some members of the team have also
expressed interest in competing next year.
-- (Tsunami
Bowl 3 "I am already thinking ... is
on to something.")
The Tsunami Bowl awards ceremony
took place Sunday afternoon at Seward
High School. Duesterloh
thinks Kodiak's team brought back something that's ultimately more valuable
than a trophy.
-- (Tsunami Bowl 4 "Its
amazing to ... becoming leaders.")
This year the Tsunami Bowl title
was claimed for the 11th time by the team from Juneau-Douglas High;
they'll now go on to compete with other regional winners from across the United
States.
Duesterloh and the "Weapons of Bass
Destruction" are looking ahead to 2011 as the year to unseat the reigning
Tsunami Bowl champions.
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