The sea geeks are coming!

CINTHIA RITCHIE

April 25, 2008 at 11:01AM AKST

They’re coming by plane. By train. And even by tour bus.

More than 125 super-smart students from across the country arrive in Seward to compete in the National Ocean Sciences Bowl April 25-27. Once you add in coaches, representatives and parents, about 250 people will be descending upon the city.

Where oh where will we put the sea geeks?

According to Laura Cloward, executive director of the Seward Chamber of Commerce, Seward gets hefty conferences about once a year.

"As the size gets up higher, it’s more of a challenge," she said.

But there’s more than enough accommodations for such a group, she added.

Event coordinator Phyllis Shoemaker had the thorny task of figuring out the logistics behind those accommodations.

"Once we put in the proposal to host this event we immediately started to think about where they were going to stay and what they were going to do while they’re here," she said.

Hundreds of volunteers have been recruited to prepare food, set up rooms and help out as competition moderators, science judges, scorekeepers and runners to scurry questions back and forth between rooms.

"Coordinating so many people was the most difficult part, and there are always last-minute things to deal with," Shoemaker said, "But I think we’re ready.

Finding funding

The National Ocean Sciences Bowl began in 1998 as a means of increasing ocean and marine sciences knowledge among high school students. Regional events are held each February at 25 sites around the country.

According to National Ocean Sciences director Susan Haynes, more than 300 schools and 2,000 students competed this year, with winning teams advancing to nationals. The Juneau-Douglas High School "Naughty Nautilli" team will represent Alaska at this year’s event.

This is the first year the competition has been hosted in Alaska.

"It’s been a bit of a challenge, it’s more of a remote location than we’ve ever done before," she said.

She was referring mainly to cost. The competition is funded through the National Oceanographic Partnership Program, and a chunk of that money is used for traveling expenses.

Or at least normally. Airfare to Alaska can be costly.

Which is why the University of Alaska School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences stepped in and helped raise $200,000 to supplement NOSB’s budget.

Denis Wiesenborg, dean of the UAF fisheries program, helped procure a matching $50,000 grant from Conoco Phillips and British Petroleum. Soon after, the University of Alaska to put up the other half.

"And then we were well on way," he said.

The North Pacific Research Board kicked in with a two-part grant, and along with private and business donations and $5,000 from the city of Seward, the $200,000 goal was soon met.

According to Wiesenborg, the student and coaches’ airfare came to $87,500 alone, and then there was a train to charter, buses to hire, hotel rooms to rent, meals to arrange and '85. .

"Believe it or not, it was a lot of fun raising the money," Wiesenborg said. "People were happy to help out. Sometimes I didn’t even have to ask; the money just appeared."

Seeing Seward

The NOSB students fly into Anchorage April 24 and converge at the Howard Johnson.

On the following day they travel to Seward on a chartered Alaska Railroad train ride. Once in town, they’ll stay at the Holiday Inn Express and Breeze Inn and then have an opportunity to glimpse whales on a donated Renown Tours cruise.

Such a chance to experience Alaska should prove an invaluable experience for the youngster, Wiesenborg said. It could also be lucrative to Seward as well.

"We have 125 students who are really good in science plus volunteers and judges coming to see what Alaska is really like," he said. "My guess is that they’ll go back and tell their parents what a great place Seward is."

That should attract more visitors to the area and add more revenue in the pockets of Seward businesses.

"This is a chance to get a really bright group of kids up here," he said.

"It’s my guess that they are going to want to come back."

Cinthia Ritchie can be reached at (907) 342-2428 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 428.