Arcadia’s Ocean Sciences Bowl (OSB) team competed in the Los Angeles (LA) Surf Bowl on Feb. 5. The virtual competition was hosted by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and had eight high schools competing from around the LA area. At the end of the day, Arcadia placed 5th overall. The top three places were: 1st place-Santa Monica High School, 2nd-University High School, and 3rd-Temple City High School.

Perhaps one of the lesser known academic teams, OSB focuses on all things ocean.  Though it may sound like a very niche competition, the team is required to know about biology, chemistry, geography, and the social sciences. This includes knowing facts about oceanic sediments, the scientific names of jellyfish, famous ships, etc. Ms. Kristeen Pisano is the advisor of OSB and expressed her pride in the academic team. 

“OSB students are very capable and they leave me little to do.” Though she added, “Listening in on the buzzer practice is always hilarious because it is obvious that no question maker decides how to pronounce certain scientific words.”

Senior Nathaniel Chen has been a member of OSB for four years. He competed on the five-person team that attended regionals. This year, he prepared by attending scrimmages with other teams and reviewing key terms.

“My focus, tech and physics, made me surf on Wikipedia a lot to compile information, which I didn’t know was relevant or not, but I studied just to be sure,” said Chen.

This year, in order to level the playing field, the competition was not a typical ‘head-to-head’ format. Teams played against themselves in individual video call rooms, buzzing in to answer questions for points. At the end of each round, the two lowest scoring teams were eliminated. On the day of, Chen confessed he felt the energy of anticipation get to him.

“I was definitely feeling anxious but also relieved because it was finally here. We were [hyped] up to win, but also not to feel too bad which definitely helped. But I think the pressure made the experience better in the end,” Chen said. 

After an intense 60 question preliminary round, Arcadia made the top six and advanced to Elimination Round One. Despite their best effort, the team was unable to advance to the next round. There were also setbacks out of their control, including some misspoken answers and serious technical difficulties. Junior Theodore Hung is the captain of OSB this year and is no stranger to setbacks. He competed in a spare room at a friend’s house after round one when his wifi proved unreliable. 

“My internet stopped working, and I had to move to another member’s house to compete. I was really anxious because I couldn’t answer any questions and had to put all my faith into my teammates’ abilities,” said Hung.

Though OSB did not make it to the final round, Hung still appreciated the dedication each person put in for the competition.

“I’m proud of the commitment that the competing team exhibited. Everyone sacrificed their time to focus on the competition,” said Hung. “Although the competition lasted over three hours, and the fact that we didn’t start off the preliminary rounds on the best footing, I was really grateful to everyone’s endurance and ability to persevere.”

From Ms. Pisano’s point of view, she could tell that the results weren’t what the team expected. However, she did point out that “each score was higher than the last even if it was only by a few points. [Plus] there had been a lot getting in the way of practice time like ASB not allowing clubs to meet all January,” she said. “But to get as far as they did competing against schools that have actual Ocean Science classes is an achievement. Just imagine how well the team could do if it had an hour every day to get together and learn about ocean related sciences?”

Since this was Chen’s last year on OSB, the competition had extra significance to him. Still, he wouldn’t trade the experience for anything else.

“I’m definitely proud of Arcadia and hope to see my underclassmen get better. They’re forming up really well, almost better than three years ago, when we came really close to winning regionals, so the dream is still alive,” he said, adding, “I don’t feel too proud of my performance, but this won’t be a memory I’ll think sourly of.”

As for future plans, OSB will be recruiting new members this spring. Interested students can find out more about this club at this year’s Spring Preview or on the team’s Instagram.

Photo courtesy of Arcadia Ocean Science Bowl