MISSION, Texas – (April 13, 2019) Recruiters assigned to Navy Recruiting Station McAllen and Navy Recruiting District (NRD) San Antonio attended Neptune’s Chariot SeaPerch Regional Competition hosted by La Joya Independent School District (ISD) at the La Joya ISD Sports & Learning Center.
Nineteen high school and middle school teams from throughout the area competed to advance to national competition.
Placing first overall in the competition was Team Metal Hawks Alpha of Kenneth White Jr. High School with Team Aquabots of Memorial Middle School placing second.
Both teams will compete nationally in the 2019 SeaPerch Challenge to be held on the campus of the University of Maryland, June 1 – 2.
Mission native, Ramon Menchaca, the Prodos director with Academy for Health Science Professions-Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM), served as the event’s coordinator.
“Activities such as SeaPerch provides awareness for our students on what they are capable of doing,” said Menchaca, who has been an educator for 10 years. “It shows them that no matter where you are from, you can excel at robotics and get into the STEM fields.”
Menchaca thanked the Navy recruiters for their presence and for speaking with the students about the various STEM careers in America’s Navy.
For Teams Metal Hawks Alpha and Aquabots, this was their first SeaPerch competition.
“This feels awesome,” said Jose Sanchez, a science teacher and coach of Team Metal Hawks Alpha. “This is our first year and the kids learned a lot. This demonstrates that hard work pays off.”
“We are very excited to be advancing to national competition,” said Alfredo Trevino, coach of Team Aquabots. “We tried our best. Thank you to La Joya ISD for the opportunity for our kids to compete.”
SeaPerch is an innovative underwater robotics program that equips teachers and students with the resources they need to build an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in an in-school or out-out-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.
NRD San Antonio’s area of responsibility includes more than 30 Navy Recruiting Stations and Navy Officer Recruiting Stations spread throughout 144,000 square miles of Central and South Texas territory.