WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., a senior member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today welcomes the Consortium for Ocean Leadership to Mississippi for its annual National Ocean Science Bowl (NOSB), this year located in Ocean Springs.

“I am proud that Ocean Springs will host this year’s NOSB Finals,” Wicker said. “Hundreds of students from across the country will experience firsthand the beauty and significance of Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. I hope the academic competition will help these students sharpen their skills and instill a lifelong passion for ocean sciences. This type of research is especially important to our Coast five years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and 10 years after Hurricane Katrina.”

The NOSB is an academic competition and program that addresses a national gap in environmental and earth sciences in public education by introducing high school students to ocean science, preparing them for ocean science-related and other STEM careers, and helping them become knowledgeable citizens and environmental stewards.

Each February, the National Ocean Science Bowl regional competitions are held at 25 locations across the country. The winning team from each of these 25 regional competitions is provided transportation and accommodations for competing in the NOSB Finals, held in a different location each April. This year, Mississippi’s Long Beach High School is competing for the national title.

The NOSB Finals will take place at Ocean Springs’ Gulf Coast Research Laboratory Marine Education Center from April 23-26, with a particularly relevant theme, “The Science of Oil in the Ocean.”