The science trivia A team, consisting of seniors Sergio Ribeiro and Chenoa Payne, and sophomores Claire Burke and Rhiannon Begley, took third place at the annual Blue Crab Bowl on Feb. 9. An academic competition revolving around what mere mortals call trivia, the Blue Crab Bowl focuses on ocean sciences, with questions ranging from ecosystems to marine laws and technology, with some chemistry thrown in for fun.
Science department head George Murphy has been the team’s advisor since the competition began 16 years ago.
“I ask the students in my Biology II honors classes to participate,” Murphy said. “We actually have a Blue Crab Bowl of our own. As a practice for the end of the year exam, I split the classes into two teams to compete against each other.”
Participation in the Blue Crab Bowl requires interest in marine biology, but it can also be a learning experience.
“I am really interested in marine biology,” Payne said. “I was really nervous at first, but when the team made it to the trophy round, I was so proud of us.”
At last year’s Blue Crab Bowl the team did not place, making this year’s performance a major improvement.
“It was just great,” Begley said. “I didn’t expect to get as far as we did after last year when we got crushed, but it was pretty awesome winning as much as we did.”
Ribeiro plans to be an engineer, and participating in the Blue Crab Bowl is another step towards his goal.
“I learned how complex biological systems and natural systems are,” Ribeiro said. “In the future I plan to understand biological systems and then model them using software.”