Photo By Aldo Anderson | Norfolk Naval Shipyard’s (NNSY) mascot, Yardbird Sam shares a fist bump with a...... read more read more
STARBASE Victory is an innovative pathway program for fourth through seventh graders in Portsmouth Public Schools that teaches the students about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Together, NNSY’s Outreach Manager Valerie Fulwood and the shipyard’s STEM Employee Resource Group (STEM-ERG) support the program in many ways including with volunteers. “NNSY employees volunteer and talk about the shipyard telling the students how they got there and what their position is,” said STEM-ERG President Erica Miranda.
While the shipyard has supported STARBASE Victory for years, this year NNSY’s People Development Pillar team worked to align the STEM-ERG to the program. This action was in direct support of the pillar’s first focus area: “select the best candidates.” The People Development Pillar Team Lead and Shipyard Executive Director Fred McKenna toured the camp with Miranda and saw NNSY volunteers in action.
There were five different camps this summer for rising fourth through seventh graders. “LEGO WeDo Robotics Camp” was for rising fourth graders with campers exploring robot design and programming as they created robotic critters and investigated simple machines. “CODE TREKKERS” was open to rising fifth grade students. In the program, students decoded secret messages around Olde Towne Portsmouth using GPS units with the goal to find their agent. “Eco-Cadets” was open to rising sixth graders who engaged in a variety of ecological activities including testing water quality and creating environmental art. The rising sixth graders briefed the city of Portsmouth on suggestions to improve the environment based on their findings. “Drone Squad” was a two-week long camp open to rising seventh graders. The campers learned about the latest Mars mission as they launched rockets, flew drones, and learned Spheros coding. Finally, “PPScodings” was open to rising fifth through seventh graders. The coders used code.org, Spheros, and littleBits to learn the basics of coding, develop student-made computer programs, and explore career opportunities in computer science.
Along with meeting volunteers from America’s Shipyard, the campers even got a visit from NNSY’s mascot – Yardbird Sam!
The skills the STARBASE students learn today could help to protect the nation in the future. Miranda said, “The goal of NNSY’s involvement is to continuously maintain a working relationship with STARBASE and help push their mission of keeping STEM alive as well as ensuring our future workforce for the shipyard.”
| Date Taken: | 09.07.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 09.07.2021 09:42 |
| Story ID: | 404604 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 84 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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