Naughty Nautilli team members run along the California coast on an educational trip to San Francisco and Monterey, California, in May 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephen Kubota.
Team Naughty Nautilli's 2008 all-expenses-paid educational trip to California
Molly Emerson drives a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) during an educational trip to Moss Landing and Monterey Bay in May 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephen Kubota.
Every year, the winning team from Alaska receives an all-expenses paid trip to the NOSB finals. Last year, the finals were held for the first time in Alaska. To reward the 2008 Tsunami Bowl winning team from Alaska (the Juneau-Douglas "Naughty Nautilli"), the UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences arranged an all-expenses paid marine education trip for the team to travel to San Francisco and Monterey Bay, California, last May. Funding for the trip was provided by the donors who supported the 2008 NOSB finals in Seward.
The students started their journey in San Francisco, where they visited Fisherman's Wharf and the Exploratorium. During their travels down the California coast, they had behind-the-scenes tours of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and the Moss Landing Institute. The behind-the-scenes tours were arranged by SFOS Dean Denis Wiesenburg.
Read the students’ description of their travels below:
"Our trip to Monterey, California last May was a splendid experience, and was incredibly educational and inspirational. We began and concluded our adventure in the great city of San Francisco, a city that none of the team had previously visited. Exploring Fisherman's Wharf, the Science Exploratorium, Chinatown, and generally walking up really big hills filled our days with new sights. The real fun began when we went south. We got a dose of pure fun by taking a horse-riding excursion along a beach of Big Sur State Park, driving along scenic Highway 1, and hiking around a redwood forest.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium surpassed our wildest expectations, and during our behind-the-scenes tour we were shown the inner workings of the institution and realized just how much organization, money and passion goes into this great educational center. While we explored both exotic and familiar exhibits, it was awesome to know that while we were actively learning about the ocean, so were the hundreds of people who were also visiting. Everyone felt that the visit increased our understanding of marine ecosystems that are similar but also radically different from our home coast.
A view of the California coast. Photo by Stephen Kubota.
As great as the Monterey Bay Aquarium was, our tour of the Moss Landing Institute and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute laboratories was unanimously claimed the favorite part of the trip. Visiting these amazing places of research and production was the most motivational part of our trip, because we as students got to see up close exactly what educational and career opportunities are available in the field of oceanography for those that just have the drive. Touching a priceless ROV, seeing the view from the bridge of a research vessel featured in movies we watch in class, and meeting the people who do the research that literally ends up in our textbooks was surreal. We all ended the day desperately wanting internships.
This trip was a remarkable reward for our studies and motivated us to keep on track. Thank you so much for sending us on this adventure.
--Written by Juneau-Douglas High School team Naughty Nautilli: Kayla Harrison, Molly Emerson, Stephen Kubota, Ross Douglas, Trentyn Days, and coach Ben Carney