June 2009 – Special High School Edition
We had a special ‘High School Edition’ of 7 Questions and asked the 2009 NOSB champions Seth Berger, Alex Jensen, Michael Josephson, Priya Pathak, Elisa Prebble, and their Coach, Paul Herder, from Marshfield High School seven questions about their experiences at the National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB) finals.
Melissa Brodeur: So, how does it feel to be the 2009 NOSB champions? Did you expect to win the final round?
Michael Josephson (freshman): It’s very surreal to know that we’re the champions on a national level. Every time I think about the fact that we won, I say ‘wow’ to myself. Going into the final round against Lexington, we thought we had a chance because we had just beaten them and had some momentum. Then, I, the alternate sitting in the audience, watched Lexington crush us in the first half. When the score was -4 to 36 before the team challenge questions, I thought to myself, “Ok, California’s Catalina Island is still an amazing prize for being runner-up.” We were down and did not expect to win at all. Then with just the right amount of questions remaining, we took the rest of the points for the win. When the buzzer went off when we were ahead, we were all shocked. Never in our wildest dreams did any of us expect to pull off a comeback of that scale. We were very proud and happy to be the 2009 NOSB champions.
MB: You deserve some major bragging rights! How proud are you that a team from Wisconsin won NOSB?
Alex Jensen (junior): I am extremely proud of the fact that a team from Wisconsin was able to win the National Ocean Sciences Bowl. Every year the teams at nationals go in pretty much expecting one of the coastal teams to win. Most of these schools are closely tied to major oceanographic research institutions such as Woods Hole or Scripps. I think it’s refreshing that a team from Wisconsin was able to upset the usual winners, proving that you don’t need to live near the ocean in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of it.
MB: Was teamwork a major factor in winning the competition?
Coach Paul Herder: We jokingly liken ourselves to the Jamaican bobsledders of this competition and attempt to convince others that we are charter members of our local non-existent yacht club. However, we all knew that it is just for fun and that we were capable of competing with any team. This year’s team is a young and self-directed group that gels both socially and academically. The four starters on the team are all veteran NOSB competitors and were automatically awarded a seat on this year’s team due to their exceptional performance in Alaska at the National competition last year. From that point on the students took control. They all checked out resource materials for studying over the summer, divided responsibilities for different content areas, met for summer study sessions, practiced buzzer and team challenge questions several times each week after school and gave me, the coach, more direction than I gave them. Winning the National Ocean Sciences Bowl national event this year truly was a team effort. These students are joy to be with and I look forward to having them ALL back again next year.
MB: What was the most surprising answer of the competition? Did you learn something new?
Seth Berger (sophomore): I would have to say that the most surprising answer of the national competition was the answer to the final toss-up question of the final round against Lexington. This question, which read, “What is the final stage of the Wilson cycle of ocean basin formation, that leads to the building of mountains?,” was not in itself terribly surprising, but the fact that I was able to interrupt and give the exact word answer “suturing” before any of the choices were read was shocking, perhaps even more for my teammates and coach than for myself. The most astonishing part for us all was the victory that this question clenched, allowing us to take the NOSB championship. We had not expected to place beyond the top six after our loss to North Hollywood, and certainly had not even thought of overcoming a forty-five point deficit following the first half of the final round, but with only twenty seconds remaining on the clock after that toss-up, and a lead of three points, we knew that we had taken the initiative and the competition.
Concerning the second half of this question, the whole team has undoubtedly learned much from this year’s national competition, though perhaps not from the buzzer questions themselves. Though I cannot speak for the others with certainty, I myself find that the fast-paced and often nerve-wracking nature of the competition does not allow me to dwell on any new facts long enough to memorize them, and I can hence learn little from these questions themselves. Despite this, the NOSB competition as a whole has taught each of us volumes about the ocean, biodiversity and their importance as part of a global ecosystem. Further, the speakers, field trips, and competition environment have educated the team as well. The final round versus Lexington this year certainly tested our perseverance in the face of great adversity. Our triumph over personal doubt and over stiff competition, in spite of an almost insurmountable deficit, has revealed to the team its unexpected strength and taught us the value of persistence. Secondly, the speakers and field trips have given us rare insight into marine science. For a team that lives thousands of miles from an ocean and whose nearest water body is a small pond at the local zoo, the trip to nationals has provided exhilarating new opportunities to explore ocean ecosystems and experience marine science firsthand. We were all enthralled to hear of the escapades of marine biologists and for most of us, to learn practical skills at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Station. It is these adventures (and hopefully those in Panama to come), among other experiences on an extended stay with the Wisconsin Regional Coordinators, that have educated us far beyond the power of textbooks and given us memories for a lifetime.
MB: It was pretty rare to have the Smithsonian Ocean Hall all to yourselves for a few hours. What was your favorite part of the exhibit?
Elisa Prebble (junior): The Ocean Hall was amazing and we were excited to have the time to see it all. My favorite part was the aquarium with all the live tropical fish and corals. It was really bright and lively and different from what you usually see in a museum.
Priya Pathak (junior): We all were fascinated by the giant squid, too.
MB: As the champions, you’ve earned a trip to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. What are you looking forward to the most during your trip to Panama?
Elisa Prebble (junior): We are looking forward to enjoying Panama’s flora and fauna the most. We can’t wait to snorkel with colorful fish and explore the jungle tree tops in STRI’s canopy crane. We’re hoping to witness Panama’s biodiversity; and see monkeys, sloth, and maybe even a sea turtle!
MB: Ok, you won a competition with the theme of ‘biodiversity’. So here’s one more challenge for you. Why is marine biodiversity important and why does it matter to you?
All team members (mostly Seth): Marine biodiversity is vital to humanity because of its paramount importance to the global ecosystem. Marine biota unquestionably does far more than provide food for the human populous. They are linked to all major nutrient cycles that control terrestrial productivity as well as marine, and as we are discovering more and more in a warming climate, biogeochemical cycles have wide reaching effects on climate. Further, by extracting a vast wealth of resources from the sea, ranging from fish harvested for human protein or animal feed, to pharmaceuticals being developed at a feverish pace, to alginates found in many household and industrial products, humans are inexorably linked to the oceans whether they live on a coastline or far on the inland plains. Marine biodiversity holds the delicate but critical key to the maintenance of such a wealth of resources and to the perpetuation of ecosystem health worldwide. It is these factors that should make us all grateful for the stunning variety of marine life and call us all to be stewards for future generations. We personally cannot contemplate, despite Marshfield’s quite apparent separation from the ocean’s shores, what an immense loss it would be to society to dispose of such a wealth of beauty displayed by marine biota, from the dazzling brilliance of coral reef communities, to the fortitude of those living on battered rocky shores, to the solitude of the deep scattered benthos, and all of the diverse communities in between.
