Penguin Bowl at Youngstown State University draws 100 participants

Penguin Bowl at Youngstown State University draws 100 participants

YOUNGSTOWN

Although the nearest salt water is hundreds of miles from here, student teams from 15 high schools gathered here to compete in an ocean sciences quiz bowl.

Saturday’s Penguin Bowl at Youngstown State University’s Kilcawley Center featured contestants from as far away as Louisville, Ky. About 100 students participated.

The quiz bowl also included many questions about the Great Lakes, which constitute the world’s largest collection of fresh water lakes.

“This year, the theme is the great lakes,” Raymond E, Beiersdorfer, a YSU geology professor and Penguin Bowl regional coordinator, said of the event.

“About 70 percent of the globe is covered by the oceans,” which contain 97 percent of the earth’s water, he said. Climate change and rising sea levels are looming environmental challenges, he added.

The Penguin Bowl is one of 25 annual regional ocean science knowledge competitions, in which teams of four or five students are tested with quick answer “buzzer” questions and thought-provoking team challenge questions.