The Arcadia High School Ocean Sciences Bowl team landed int he top ten in the nation this past weekend (April 23-25), scoring 8th place in the National Ocean Sciences Bowl Competition in St. Petersburg, Florida.
It was the first time Arcadia qualified for Nationals in 9 years, and Arcadia was up against the defending champions from last year (Marshfield High School, who won the National title for the second year in a row), as well as the fifth place team competing for the third time at nationals. Arcadia placed better than a three-time repeat national winner, and several other seasoned competitors.
Competing team members for Arcadia under first-year coach Christina Chow (newly-married a week earlier) were: Captain Jason Jong, and Sherry Kuo, Derek Chou, Jessica Liang and Samuel Zeng.
To reach nationals, Arcadia had to compete at the JPL/ USC sponsored Regional Los Angeles Surf Bowl competition on March 6th against 17 other high schools including local powerhouses Santa Monica High School (which has won five of the past seven regional competitions), and North Hollywood High School (last year’s regional champion).
At last weekend’s nationals, Arcadia won $500 from Fisher for scientific equipment, and $350 worth of gift certificates from Amazon.com.
While on the trip the Ocean Sciences team members fed stingray, met Jacques Cousteau’s grandson (who was filming a segment for “Good Morning America”), and then participated in both round robin and double elimination rounds.