ASMSA team wins regional marine science competition

For the second year, a team from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts won the Dolphin Challenge -- the northern Texas regional competition of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl.

The national high school science competition focuses on marine issues and knowledge, a news release said. Teams of four students, with one alternate and including a coach, demonstrate their knowledge of marine and coastal science by answering questions from biology, physics, chemistry, geology, geography, mathematics and the social sciences.

The regional competition was held Feb. 1-2 by the Texas Sea Grant College Program at the Texas A&M University campus in Galveston, Texas. Seniors Rachel Blocker, of Vilonia, Alison Follmer, of Eureka Springs, Luke Nester, of Hot Springs, Emily Sullivan, of Bryant, and junior Emily Smith, of Cabot, comprised the winning team.

A second ASMSA team made it to the semifinals before being eliminated. That team included juniors Howard Orlina, of Little Rock, Deo Scott, of West Fork, Kasey Meyer, of Center Ridge, Hadley Medlock, of Alma, and senior Grace Cowherd, of Heber Springs, the release said.

"I was very lucky to be able to put together two very strong teams from ASMSA this year that both made it to the semifinal round of the regional competition," Lindsey Waddell, geoscience and chemistry instructor at ASMSA and coach of both teams, said in the release. "I am always very proud of how competitive our students are after only a single, one-semester course in oceanography and then several evening practices in the weeks leading up to the competition.

"Many schools have teams that include freshmen who are able to compete year after year. However, our students grasp concepts so quickly that I am able to cover far more chapters in a single semester than most college introductory-level oceanography courses."

Previously, ASMSA won the challenge in 2017. Traditionally there have been two regional competitions held in Texas -- the Dolphin Challenge in Galveston and the Loggerhead Challenge in Port Aransas, Texas. However, following Hurricane Harvey, both competitions were canceled in 2018. The Dolphin Challenge was reinstated resulting in a greater number of teams competing, the release said.

The winning team will compete against 24 other regional qualifiers in the NOSB finals April 11-14 in Washington, D.C. In addition to the quiz bowl competition, there will be an additional Science Expert Briefing component, which is a simulation of a congressional hearing in which the student teams will research, prepare and present written testimony on a chosen piece of legislation related to the 2019 competition theme, which is Ocean Observing.

Local on 02/13/2019

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