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High school students from across Silicon Valley, Ukiah, Santa
Rosa and Sacramento, went head to head in an underwater robotics
competition at the West Valley College, Feb. 18-19, 2017 to gain a
berth at the 2017 National SeaPerch competition in May.
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February 19, 2017 – High school students, competing in a regional
SeaPerch competition, operate their remotely operated vehicles in
the Skills event, during a regional SeaPerch competition held at
West Valley College. SeaPerch is an underwater robotics program that
equips teachers and students with the resources necessary to build
an underwater remotely operated vehicle. Navy Recruiting District
San Francisco in collaboration with Navy City Outreach Los Angeles,
hosted more than 300 students, educators and parents in this two-day
event to help promote an interest in science, technology,
engineering and math careers. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass
Communication Specialist Mark R. Alvarez)
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avy Recruiting District (NRD) San Francisco in
collaboration with Navy City Outreach Los Angeles, hosted
more than 300 students, educators and parents to a regional
SeaPerch competition to promote interest in science,
technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers.
SeaPerch, an Office of Naval Research sponsored program, is an
underwater robotics program that equips teachers and students with
the resources necessary to build an underwater remotely operated
vehicle (ROV) in an in-school or out-of-school setting. Students
build the ROV from a kit comprised of low-cost, easily accessible
parts, following a curriculum that teaches basic engineering and
science concepts with a marine engineering theme.
“I might go into a career now in Engineering thanks to this
experience,” said Logan Ruddick, Bradshaw Christian High School.
“The best part of this competition was actually putting together
this team and working together.”
NRD San Francisco distributed dozens of SeaPerch kits to schools
across Northern California. Several schools were so enthusiastic
about the program; they purchased additional kits in order to field
multiple teams in the competition.
“We had a lot of setbacks during the design process, but
eventually it all came together and we took first place,” said
Indigo Funk. “I was never even considering any careers or
opportunities in STEM until this.”
Naval Officers, local industry and NASA Ames Research Center
engineers judged the 28 teams competing. The teams were judged on a
project presentation, an underwater obstacle course, and an
underwater skills trial. For the skills challenge, each ROV had to
retrieve various objects from the pool floor and place them on an
underwater rack.
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February 18, 2017 – A SeaPerch underwater remotely operated vehicle,
manipulates rings onto a rack, during a regional SeaPerch
competition held at West Valley College. SeaPerch is an underwater
robotics program that equips teachers and students with the
resources necessary to build an underwater remotely operated
vehicle. Navy Recruiting District San Francisco in collaboration
with Navy City Outreach Los Angeles, hosted more than 300 students,
educators and parents in this two-day event to help promote an
interest in science, technology, engineering and math careers. (U.S.
Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Mark R. Alvarez)
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“The young people participating in this competition truly
represent the best Northern California has to offer,” said
Cmdr. Joel Rodriguez, commanding officer, NRD San Francisco.
“This event has been an exciting opportunity for the Navy to
reach out to the local community and expose our young people
to STEM.”
This two-day competition allowed NRD San Francisco to send a
total of four teams to the National Championship. On the first day
the overall winner of the competition was Bradshaw Christian High
School, Sacramento, just edging past Santa Rosa High School, Santa
Rosa. On day two it was Ukiah High School, Ukiah, which clinched the
top two spots with Team Delta taking first and Team Pi in second.
By U.S. Navy Chief Mass Communication Specialist Mark R. Alvarez
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2017
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