EVERYBODY WINS AT THE LAKE STURGEON BOWL

 

By Casey Twanow

 

MILWAUKEE - It’s Saturday, March 4, 2:20pm. Time for round six of the 2006 Lake Sturgeon Bowl. The eight students shifting nervously at the front of classroom E129 in UWM’s Engineering Building have had a long day of competition. Down the hall, other teams are also ready to face off. In E129, it’s New Berlin West High School versus Luxemburg-Casco High School, from near Green Bay.

The officials and coaches introduce themselves and then each student buzzes in and gives their introduction. Moderator Harvey Bootsma, a Great Lakes WATER Institute researcher, reads a multiple choice question about the density of seawater, the clock starts and the match begins.

The Lake Sturgeon Bowl, now in its fifth year, is hosted by UWM’s Great Lakes WATER Institute and UW Sea Grant. The bowl is a regional competition among 20 Wisconsin high schools that tests knowledge of marine and freshwater sciences. The champion, and winners from 24 other regions, will travel to the National Ocean Sciences Bowl finals in Monterey, CA, this May.

A Luxemburg-Casco student buzzes in to answer the density question – he’s correct, and earns a bonus question about the Secchi disk, an instrument used to measure water clarity. Bootsma and Matt Rise, the science judge, also a WATER Institute scientist, rule the team’s answer incorrect, and Bootsma goes on to the next question.

Each round of the tournament involves two six minute “toss-up” sessions, in which students buzz in, Jeopardy-style to answer questions. If they answer correctly, their team is awarded a group bonus question. The toss-up sessions are broken up by the “team challenge.” For this portion, in-depth questions are passed out, and teams work together to answer the questions and hand in one answer sheet.

The first toss-up session is over; Luxemburg-Casco is in the lead. It’s time for team challenges. The first is a question series on the geology of Hawaiian Islands, then a set testing the students on subclasses of fish. There are whispers and giggles as each team huddles around one teammate who is frantically writing and erasing the answer sheet.

The team challenges are scored and Bootsma moves on to the second toss-up round, including questions on greenhouse gases, aquaculture and phytoplankton. In the end, Luxemburg-Casco wins, 76 points to 25. The underdog New Berlin West team, coached by one student’s father, is only in their second year of competition. The team says although they don’t have a winning record for the day, had a great time at the bowl. “Meeting the other teams was the best part,” says one student, and her teammates agree.

The Lake Sturgeon Bowl experience starts before and lasts long after the competition. The night before the bowl, this year’s teams attended a dinner and what regional coordinator Fran Luebke called a “wonderful open house” at the Great Lakes WATER Institute. The evening included tours of several scientists’ laboratories. Students learned about invasive zebra mussels in Carmen Aguilar and Russell Cuhel’s laboratories and saw yellow perch and, of course, lake sturgeon, in the fisheries lab. Tom Consi introduced the teams to the basics of ROV’s (Remotely Operated Vehicles) and UWM’s undergraduate ROV team demonstrated their use in his lab’s 1,000 gallon tank. The WATER Institute’s research vessel, the Neeskay, was also open to explore with Captain Greg Stamatelakys.

Every team leaves the tournament with something to look forward to. The regional winner goes on to the national competition in California, followed by a three day sail aboard the schooner Seward. The second place team wins a behind the scenes tour of Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium, and all other groups can take part in day-long science cruises with Aguilar and Cuhel on the Neeskay or Pier Wisconsin’s schooner Denis Sullivan.

This year, the Lake Sturgeon Bowl action peaked with a five-way tie for two spots in the final four. After what Luebke calls “the tightest competition ever,” Marshfield High School claimed first place, extending their winning streak to five years. Marquette High School earned second place, followed by Luxemburg-Casco and Whitefish Bay High School. Onalaska High School went undefeated to win the Silver Division (open to first-time participants).

Luebke says the event couldn’t happen without the 103 volunteers from the Great Lakes WATER Institute, UWM campus, University of Wisconsin Sea Grant, and surrounding communities that served as officials, judges and organizers.

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