For Individual Volunteers, NOT Groups
Officiate for the Blue Lobster Bowl regional competition of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB) at MIT!
WHEN
- Saturday 3/01/2025, 9:30am to 4:30pm or 6:30pm
- Rain Date: 3/02/2025
Commitment for both 3/1&2 is required.
We will decide to postpone to Sunday 3/2 by 4pm on Th 2/27. -
Sign up by 2/06/2025
WHAT
This fast-paced question-and-answer competition on marine sciences will pit teams in an academic quiz bowl format. Competitors will use a lockout buzzer system to respond to rapid-fire multiple choice and short answer questions. Additionally, team members collaborate to answer complex analytical Team Challenge Questions (TCQs).
While no ocean sciences knowledge is required to serve as a timekeeper, scorekeeper, or room runner, a positive and supportive attitude and attention to detail are very important for all roles.
Each volunteer will receive free swag, snacks, and lunch.
Many volunteers will be able to depart by ~3:30pm after the round robins. We will need 12+ experienced volunteers to help until 6:30pm to officiate for the championship rounds.
This is a fragrance-free event.
Volunteers may not use/wear scented hair/face/hand/body/laundry products, including soaps and lotions.
This is a fun, fast-paced competition with which more than 550 PMD volunteers have enjoyed helping in critical, officiating roles since 1999.
We need 80+ volunteer moderators**, ocean science judges, ocean sciences graders, rules judges*, scorekeepers, timekeepers, room runners, and an organizer:
- Moderators Read questions clearly and maintain the pace of the game and the competition room. Must demonstrate excellent public speaking skills and mastery of password-protected PDF usage on their laptops during practices/selection process. Prior competition experience more than one year prior as a competitor and/or prior experience as an official is strongly recommended since this person runs the competition room for all matches.
- Ocean Science Judges Ensure that Moderators read the questions and answer choices accurately. When needed, help Moderator decide whether an answer is correct. Reset the lockout buzzer system. Address scientific challenges. Demonstrate mastery of password-protected PDF usage on their laptops connected to classroom projector during training-practice. Sometimes review/correct questions in advance of competition. Strong ocean sciences background required. Also cross-train to serve as Moderators.
- Ocean Sciences Graders Grade/score teams' responses to Team Challenge Questions (TCQs) and resolve scientific challenges. Requires strong ocean sciences/STEM background.
- Rules Judges Take team members' and coaches' attendance for every round. Maintain order in the competition rooms, enforce rules, respond to challenges to the rules, and issue warnings. Also cross-train to serve as Scorekeepers and/or Timekeepers.
- Scorekeepers Track and record the teams' scores throughout each match on 2'x3' printed scoresheets. Check and submit final scores and scoresheets. Also cross-train and alternate as Rules Judges during the competition day if possible.
- Timekeepers Mark the game time with a game clock and keep time on a stopwatch for each question. Issue loud verbal warnings before/when time runs out. May concurrently serve as room runners if there are not enough volunteers.
- Room runners Take team challenge question answers and scores, plus unresolved challenges, to/from Ocean Bowl Central quickly. Sort confidential questions and non-confidential scrap paper and fasteners for recycling and reuse. Help rules judge enforce rules. May also help teams find competition buildings and rooms. (Training/practice is only required for runners who also prepare to serve as backup timekeepers and basic scorekeepers, both very much needed backup roles.)
- Science Room Organizer Prepare and check TCQ points, and update the electronic scoreboard/google sheet)
To prepare, all volunteers MUST PARTICIPATE IN 2 hours of scheduled training and practice two weeks in advance so that they function without errors during this high-intensity competition. (Even if you have volunteered for or participated in NOSB or another quiz bowl in the past, you must participate in training-practice in order to familiarize yourself with the rules and to demonstrate your mastery of these roles.)
*Only experienced volunteers and past competitors, and volunteers with legal backgrounds serve as rules judges, given the complexity of the rules and fast game pace.
**Only experienced volunteers and past competitors generally serve as moderators given the complexity of this role. We encourage past competitors to aspire to this volunteer level and as ocean sciences graders. Moderators must demonstrate mastery of this role by the conclusion of their final practice sessions.
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Learn more about competing in the 2025 Blue Lobster Bowl
WHERE
MIT, Cambridge
Note: PMD only shares exact locations, schedules, and other details with registered volunteers and teams since we cannot accommodate any walk-ins, i.e., unregistered volunteers or teams
WHY
Topics include the biology, chemistry, geology, physics, history, and economics of the ocean, as well as ocean-related current events. The winning team will compete in the National finals.
It takes 80+ volunteers to staff 12 competition rooms for 24 teams, keeping time, keeping score, and judging rules** and ocean sciences, moderating***, grading**** team responses, and organizing the TCQ grades and updating the electronic scoreboard/google sheet.
Time-keeping, score-keeping, runner, and science room organizing volunteers need NO science/ocean knowledge, just successful completion of a training-practice session and keen attention to detail, positive attitudes toward all competitors and schools, and attentive patience during down times while questions are being challenged/graded and between rounds.
We also need qualified (i.e., ocean science backgrounds/careers) Science Judges/role models in the competition rooms, as Science Room Graders for the written Team Challenge responses as well as scientific challenge resolution, and helping with the science challenge (if one takes place) for teams not competing in elimination rounds.
Qualified = OCEAN science or OCEAN engineering education, career, and/or experience.
Most volunteers MUST PREPARE for and PARTICIPATE FULLY in at least one, 2-hour, 2025 training/practice session so that they are able to demonstrate full function with no errors during this high-intensity competition.
Any 2/22/25 Northeast Regional Middle School Science Bowl volunteer officials may opt for a 45-minute "differences" session on 2/22 during their lunch break at MIT.
Even if you have volunteered for or participated in NOSB, BLB, NSB or another quiz bowl or science competition, you must actively participate in training in order to familiarize yourself with the rules & regulations and to demonstrate your mastery of the moderator, science judge, rules judge, timekeeper, and/or scorekeeper role(s).
*Due to the cancellation of the 2025 Nor'easter Bowl, Maine and New Hampshire teams will compete in the 2025 BLB.
**Only experienced volunteers, past competitors, and volunteers with legal backgrounds serve as primary rules judges, given the complexity of the rules and fast pace of this competition.
***Only experienced volunteers and past competitors who have volunteered at least one year in another capacity generally serve as moderators given the complexity of this role. New moderators must participate/audition in TWO (2) training-practice sessions in order to be considered for this role.
****We particularly need and encourage past competitors and ocean science and engineering educators and graduate students to work as a team to grade written team responses and to resolve scientific challenges rapidly.
People Making a Difference (PMD) aims to strengthen the community, including STEM education, by engaging volunteers as officials and role models. PMD has hosted all of the virtual Blue Lobster Bowl (BLB; MA), Quahog Bowl (CT & RI), Bay Scallop Bowl (NY), and 2024 Shore Bowl (NJ) regional competitions "head-to-head" (and all prior in-person BLB competitions at MIT) for the National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB), also founded by Admiral James D. Watkins seven years after he founded the National Science Bowl (NSB).
HOW
- Tuesday 2/11, 6pm & 8:15pm at MIT
- Thursday 2/13, 6pm & 8:15pm at MIT
- Sunday 2/16, 9:30am & 12noon at MIT
- Monday 2/17 (holiday), 10:30am & 1pm at MIT
- Saturday 2/22, 12-1pm at MIT for NERMSSB volunteers only
- Science Graders Only: Sunday 2/23, 30-min evening VIDEO training/orientation tbd
- Monday 2/24, 3pm at WHOI
unless you will serve as a new moderator (for whom two sessions are required);
none if you will serve as a dedicated ocean sciences Grader (for which a separate, 30-min VIDEO training/orientation is required on Sunday 2/23 evening, whose exact time will be scheduled via doodle);
OR none if you will serve as a Runner with no back-up roles requiring training and practicing.
Training-Practicing Exceptions:
-New/potential BLB moderators must successfully participate in TWO (2) sessions AND audition/demonstrate proficiency
-Science graders must participate in a 30-minute conference call to be scheduled on Sunday 2/23 evening, based on doodle/majority available
-We prefer runners and organizers who cross-train as time-and score- keepers, but will accept dedicated runners and an organizer available on both 3/1 and 3/2 but unable to attend a training-practice session.
To officiate, apply by 2/6 at http://www.pmd.org/s/BLBvolunteer2025.htm
Incomplete submissions cannot be honored.
We canNOT include any UNregistered volunteers.
AFTER the application deadline, interested volunteers can join the backup list, since we anticipate cancellations due to illnesses.
Joining the PMD backup list means making a commitment to reserve both 3/1&2 and a training-practice session you select until the date you provide.
Call PMD if you cannot apply using our form.
If you experience any difficulty applying online to volunteer with PMD, please immediately CALL THE PMD OFFICE at(*82) 1-781-963-0373 so that we can help you AND troubleshoot the problem so that other potential volunteers will not face the same problem. Thanks!
After you apply, you will see a confirmation screen and receive a confirmation email message. Please save your first- and second- choice training-practice dates and times on your calendars AND add [email protected] AND [email protected] to your address/white/allow list.
Then a few days before your (assume first-choice unless notified by 2/8) training-practice session, PMD will email specific details, what to expect, checklist, etc.
WHO
We need detail-oriented, enthusiastic and reliable volunteers age 18+ to officiate for the 2025 Blue Lobster Bowl high school ocean sciences competition at MIT in STEM and no-STEM-required roles.Up to 24 teams of students from Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire* high schools will compete head-to-head in-person for the championship. The champion will qualify to compete in the NOSB National Finals against other regional champions. These young people and their teachers/coaches are interested in and knowledgeable about the natural world.
Partnering for the first time with the MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric & Planetary Sciences (EAPS), People Making a Difference (PMD) is a nonprofit organization that promotes informed and responsible volunteerism by involving people in tangible work that meets local needs and by assisting companies in building successful community involvement programs that:
- Produce appreciable results while conserving recipients' limited resources
- Educate volunteers about broader issues
- Bring people together to make a difference
PMD is also hosting the new 2/8&9 Virtual Sponge Bowl for teams in states without regional bowls in 2025, for which we also need volunteers (who train, practice, and officiate via zoom) who apply by 1/17 at http://pmd.org/s/SpongeBowlVolunteer25.htm.
"We need to respect the oceans and take care of them as if our lives depended on it. Because they do."
-Sylvia Earle