By: Tiffany Whitfield
The Blue Crab Bowl, a 24-year tradition of high school students going head-to-head in a rapid buzzer, rapid fire competition could not be stopped, even during a global pandemic. Though students could not compete in-person, the event was held virtually by the Department of Ocean and Earth Sciences (OES) in partnership with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) on February 26 and 27.
The Blue Crab Bowl is a fast-paced, and live competition for Virginia high school students covering the broad range of science, technology, engineering and international and national policy related to our world ocean. The competition spanned two days, beginning with 14 teams and culminated with the finals on Saturday, February 27.
Even though teams could not compete in-person, the Blue Crab Bowl maintained a dynamic presence on social media including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with timely screenshots of competitions taking place in Zoom rooms.
"As the Blue Crab Bowl is one of the founding regional competitions in the National Ocean Sciences Bowl, we wanted to do everything we could to provide our Virginia high school students with the chance to compete in 2021," said Bill Dunn, ODU's Regional Coordinator and "Chief Crab".
"Certainly, the virtual Blue Crab Bowl lacked the immediacy of the competition we've run for the past two decades; however, that stated, kudos to Bill Dunn and to his counterpart at VIMS, Bethany Smith," said Fred Dobbs, chair of the Department of Ocean & Earth sciences at ODU. "They organized and led more than 300 hours of volunteer training such that our moderators, scorekeepers, timers, and judges all were well versed in a decidedly different approach to the Bowl."
During these unprecedented times, students worked for months to prepare for this event. Each student represented their school well during this intense STEM competition.
After the last question was answered and the scores were tallied the top placing teams were:
First Place: Chesapeake Bay Governor's School for Marine and Environmental Science - Glenns Campus
Second Place: Fauquier High School, Warrenton
Third Place: Catholic High School, Virginia Beach
Fourth Place: Seton High School, Manassas
The winning team, Chesapeake Bay Governor's School for Marine and Environmental Science - Glenns Campus, moves on to represent Virginia at the national finals in May. "Thanks for all of your tremendous hard work and another impeccably run event," said Sara Beam, coach and faculty member. "We are so excited, and the kids are really energized after a year of so many disappointments, this is a true highlight."
Chesapeake Bay Governor's School—Glenns, will move on to the national competition in May, which will also be held virtually. Click here to watch the video of the 2021 Blue Crab Bowl Awards Ceremony.
The other schools who competed in this year's Blue Crab Bowl are:
Albemarle High School
Broadwater Academy
Chesapeake Bay Governor's School - Warsaw Campus
Chesapeake Bay Governor's School - Combined Team
Cosby High School
Indian River High School
Isle of Wight Academy
New Horizons Governor's School for Science and Technology
Norfolk Collegiate
Tidewater Academy
Six regions cancelled their bowls this year but fortunately the almost 70 volunteers from ODU and VIMS were able to organize and run an event which garnered praise from the high school teacher/coaches and students.
"Our students had great fun in the competition, for which I am very thankful. I wasn't sure what it would be like doing this virtually, but it was a success," said George Murphy, coach at Fauquier High School.
"My team had the best time! It was such a great experience from start to finish, and we learned so much," said Diana Webber, coach at Albemarle High School. "I really appreciate all your hard work, and my team is already looking forward to next year."
A hearty well done is deserved for all the volunteer faculty, staff, graduate, and undergraduate students from the College of Sciences. "We could not have done without our legion of volunteers this year," said Dunn.
The tradition continues. "We are looking forward to hosting the 2022 Blue Crab Bowl in a post pandemic environment when we can return to our traditional in person head-to-head competition format," said Dunn. Any questions you might have concerning the Blue Crab Bowl may be addressed to Bill Dunn at wdunn@odu.edu.
The Blue Crab Bowl is one of 25 regional competitions sponsored by the Consortium for Ocean Leadership (COL) program known as the National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB) begun in 1998.