Lakewood Ranch senior competing for major US science prize

Vin Mannix
 |  Special to the Herald-Tribune

Bowhead whales. The Beaufort Gyre. Oceanic migration patterns.

They’re the focus of a fascinating research project by Addison Shea, one of the 2025 Regeneron Science Talent Search finalists vying for over $1.8 million beginning Thursday in Washington, D.C.

The gifted Lakewood Ranch High senior is among 40 students selected from 2,500 entrants for the 84-year-old competition that has produced 13 Nobel Prizes and 23 MacArthur Fellowships.

“I’m just honored to have gotten this far,” Shea said.

Spurred by a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution publication, her project examines how a changing Arctic Ocean current, the Beaufort Gyre north of Alaska, coincided with migration patterns of the Bowhead whale, magnificent 60-ton creatures with a 200-year lifespan in the Arctic and subarctic.

“I’d never heard of the Beaufort Gyre, but wanted to understand how it worked.”

According to Shea, the current rotated clockwise every five to seven years the last century then briefly rotated counter-clockwise, releasing accumulated freshwater and nutrients into the neighboring Atlantic sea current.

But, for undetermined reasons, it hasn’t switched directions in two decades.

So, using the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data base, Shea got busy.

“I wanted to see how significant this current’s patterns were to the overall ecosystem. So, I picked the bowhead whales because they’re good indicators. By seeing any changes in their behavior and their migration patterns, it can indicate corresponding changes in the behavior of other species in this environment – plankton, zooplankton, their prey. The whales’ migratory patterns did, in fact, change. They were following their food source.”

Already accepted by Yale, Michigan and Florida among others, Shea’s ambition is scientific research and the competition prize money – $25,000 for finalists, $40,000-$250,000 for top 10 awardees – would help reach that goal.

“We’ll see.”

· Speaking of scholarships, the $1,500 Drevian J. Mays Scholarship deadline is March 28 for high school seniors. Co-sponsored by the 13th AV Dream Center and the Drevian J. Mays Foundation, the scholarship honors the memory of the late Braden River High student-athlete. Visit uccfl.org/drevian-j-mays-scholarship· to apply.

· Popi Ameres is 39. Again.

· So is Linda Mason.

· Salutes to new Bradenton Police Department Officers Tammy Chavez, Aaron Layne and Donvil White.

· And Dave Grantham is one year shy of the Big 7-0!

· Tickets are available until Friday for the Manatee Community Foundation’s Spirit of Manatee 2025 luncheon March 13 at the Palmetto Marriott. Visit manateecf.org/nonprofits/spirit-of-manatee.

Vin’s People runs Sundays. Email Vin Mannix at vinspeople@gmail.com. Or call 941-962-5944.

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