The eighth annual National Ocean Sciences Bowl, sponsored by the Consortiumfor Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE) was held in Biloxi, MS April23-25, 2005. Once again OES was a sponsor of the event. The event thisyear was larger, 25 schools, with the addition of a regional competitionwinner from St. Petersburg, FL. The event began on Saturday evening witha boat cruise and cook-out on Ship Island. The competitions began Sundaymorning on the campus of Southern Mississippi Campus-Gulf Park. The competitionslasted until 7:30 PM with Double Elimination Round 4. The competitions resumedMonday morning at the J.L. Scott Marine Education Center & Aquarium indowntown Biloxi with the Double Elimination Rounds 5 and 6. Following a Break,Awards Ceremony I was conducted in the auditorium for the 5th through 8thplace winners. RAdm West, the Director of Core, gave some introductoryremarks and th! en introduced COL Norman Miller from OES to present theawards that OES sponsors. The team captains came forward and were introducedand presented with a plaque and a certificate. The schools receiving the awardswere:

5th place - La Jolla High School - La Jolla Surf Bowl
6th place - Maui High School - Aloha Bowl
7th place - Incarnate Word Academy - Loggerhead Challenge
8th place - Santa Monica High School - Los Angeles Surf Bowl

Each school received a gift certificate for scientific equipment and textbooks for their classrooms.
Following Double Elimination Rounds 7 and 8, which were held in theauditorium, a break was taken and then the Final Award Ceremony. Adm Lautenbacher,Director of NOAA, was introduced and showed a very interesting video of allof NOAA's activities and career opportunities in the ocean sciences. TheCoast Guard commandant also presented a video on the work of the Coast Guardand the opportunities for careers in the Coast Guard. The program contineudwith the showing of a video recapping the weekend NOSB activities as a fittingwrap-up for an exciting weekend. The awards ceremony for the 1st through 4thplace winners then took place. The winning teams were:

1st place - Cranston High School - Quahog Bowl
2nd place - Lincoln Sudbury High School - Blue Lobster Bowl
3rd place - Mission San Jose High School - Otter Bowl
4th place - Oconee High School - Southern Sting Ray Bowl

The final award given each year is the James D. Watkins SportsmanshipAward. This award is offered to the team who demonstrated the best sportsmanshipthroughout the NOSB finals. The team is selected a vote of the students. The winner for this year was Langham Creek High School in Houston, TX, thewinner of the Dolphin Challenge Bowl. This was their first time in the finalsand was a fitting award for them.

Norman D. Miller
Student Activities Coordinator