Career and Tech team wins regional ocean sciences competition

SEWARD — Mat-Su Career and Technical High School took home the gold last weekend in Alaska’s 18th annual Tsunami Ocean Sciences Bowl, the regional competition associated with the National Ocean Sciences Bowl.

According to the Alaska Tsunami Bowl website — seagrant.uaf.edu/nosb — the Career and Tech team ended an eight-year winning streak by Juneau-Douglas High School.

Winning Mat-Su team members Joshua Hartman, Ariel Hasse, Lucas Arthur, Jacob Cucinello and Cade Johnstone will receive $500 for Ocean Bowl resources and a free trip to the national competition held April 23-26 in Ocean Springs, Miss., to compete against 24 other regional winners.

For the regional competition, students were required to prepare a research paper on topics related to the study of oceans and submit it in December, then give an oral presentation at the Tsunami Bowl Feb. 5-8. The research portion — unique to the Alaska competition — is scored, then combined with the scores of a timed, round-robin quiz competition, which makes up the bulk of the bowl.

Up against multiple teams from 19 participating schools, Career and Tech High placed two teams in the top 15. A Palmer High School team took 12th place.