All these facts illustrate how the oceans connect to everyday American life. But for the moment, Julie Fero, a senior at Mount Carmel High School in San Diego, is not thinking about the effects of overfishing or the impact of cooler summers on U.S. power companies. She's trying to recall the answers to questions such as:

"What is the name given to the tides that have the smallest tidal range?"

(If you answered "neap tides," you're right.)

Fero is one of 90 high school students who traveled to Washington, D.C., in April to compete in the National Ocean Sciences Bowl. Co-sponsored by the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE) and the National Marine Educators Association (NMEA), the competition is designed to increase knowledge of the oceans among high school students during the United Nations-proclaimed International Year of the Ocean.

Ocean Sciences Bowl winners from Lexington High School, Lexington, Mass.   (Courtesy CORE)

It's also an effort to raise understanding of the national investment in ocean-related research: Public dollars for study of the oceans has fallen by half in the past decade -- from 7 percent of the nation's science and technology budget in 1985 to only 3.5 percent in 1995.

"A lot of these kids are bound to become leaders," said James Mitchell, communications director for CORE. "Even if they don't become scientists, in the future there's a chance they will be policymakers." And the more policy makers know about the importance of the oceans, the better, he says.

Clad in T-shirts and sneakers, ponytails askew, the students sat on a panel behind a buzzer and competed game-show style in this small auditorium at Galludet University in Northeast Washington. This was Trivial Pursuit on a grand scale: 16 teams of whiz-kids pitted against one another on subjects that relate to the oceans -- physics, chemistry, geology, atmospheric science, biology, international economics, history, geography and culture.

In the final round on Monday, the four-member team from Lexington High School in Lexington, Mass., squared off against the Woodward Academy team from College Park, Ga. After three hours of brain-squeezing questions, Lexington was proclaimed the competition's winner.

Students can brag about their bowl victories when they apply for college, and during these get-togethers they often make contact with leaders in the field. But a first-place win also has more-immediate rewards.

"I want the prizes," says Rudi Faust, a precocious Lexington High School sophomore who painted his face blue and gold "to show school spirit -- and to psyche out the other teams," he said.

The trip to Washington for the 16 competing teams was all-expenses-paid. As winners of the bowl, Faust and his teammates also won a free trip to Expo'98 this summer in Lisbon, Portugal – showing that extra study hours have their own payoffs. "A trip to the world's fair," he explains. "That's not too shabby."

Try your hand at some sample quiz questions.

Editor's Note: 1998 has been proclaimed "Year of the Ocean" by the United Nations. Bookmark this report and return soon for updated reports, additional background stories and more links to related sites.