Photo By Burrell Parmer | (Front row/far left) Dr. Havidán Rodriguez, president ad interim of the University of...... read more read more
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EDINBURG, Texas -- Sparking high school students' interests in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), Sailors of Navy Recruiting District San Antonio and Submarine Forces Atlantic put students' ingenuity to the test with a SeaPerch Competition held during Hispanic Engineering, Science and Technology (HESTEC) Week 2014 on the campus of the University of Texas-Pan American (UTPA), Oct. 10.
SeaPerch is an innovative underwater robotics program sponsored by the Office of Naval Research that equips teachers and students with the resources they need to build an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in an in-school or out-of-school setting.
Twenty-eight high school teams from throughout the Rio Grande Valley participated in the competition.
The goal of this event was to spark students' interest in science and math, so that they become inspired in pursuing a higher education and aspire to be a part of our next generation of engineers and scientists.
The competition consisted of an underwater obstacle course, ring pick-up, and a display presentation.
The winner of the SeaPerch Competition was Roma High School with Rio Grande City High School placing second and Science Academy of South Texas placing third, respectively.
University President Ad Interim, Dr. Havidán Rodriguez, along with Capt. George Perez, deputy commander, Submarine Squadron 16, presented awards to the winners.
“The Navy have been a strong supporter of HESTEC and has been for an extended portion of time,” said Rodriguez. “This is all about promoting STEM disciplines, engaging our students, and developing hands-on experiences; going from theory to practice.”
According to Rodriguez, there’s nothing more concrete than to have students attain the knowledge that they developed and put it into practice and compete.
“We support the development of STEM disciplines in high school students,” said Perez, a native of Corpus Christi, Texas. “This event exercised the students’ ability to understand and grasp the fundamentals of marine and naval engineering to include underwater robotics.”
Perez, along with other Sailors from Submarine Forces Atlantic, served as judges for the student SeaPerch presentations.
“The objective of the presentations was to assist in developing some of the life skills which the students will need going forward in a technical environment,” said Perez. “The presentations were very good because the students were engaged and shared the distribution of knowledge and the skills used to develop their SeaPerch.”
HESTEC Week (Oct. 6 – 12) is an educational conference that features events geared towards promoting science, technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) education to people of all ages and backgrounds.
Through the support of sponsors and partners, to include the U.S. Navy, HESTEC strives to empower teachers and administrators with the resources to inspire their students to pursue STEM careers (Educator Day); engage secondary level students in STEM-related hands-on activities and presentations (Student Leadership Day, Latina Day, Robotics Day, Middle School Challenge and SeaPerch Challenge); provide university students with employment and internship opportunities (College Symposiums and Fall Career Expo); and involve the community as a whole (Community Day).
| Date Taken: | 10.10.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 10.10.2014 19:38 |
| Story ID: | 144893 |
| Location: | EDINBURG, TX, US |
| Hometown: | CORPUS CHRISTI, TX, US |
| Hometown: | EDINBURG, TX, US |
| Hometown: | ROMA, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 423 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Students’ STEM Prowess tested during SeaPerch Competition at HESTEC, by Burrell Parmer, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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