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4000 trained teachers and mentors par- ticipating as well, students are learningthrough this hands-on activity by follow- ing an established academic curriculumto discover the excitement of STEM as a potential future career path. The program reaches a diverse population, so partici- pants in the Challenge will be studentsacross the country, from inner city Balti- more to rural Mississippi to Native Amer- ican reservations in Minnesota to the islands of Hawaii, all students who have been introduced to STEM throughSeaPerch.On the evening of April 11, student teams will convene having traveled from all over the country to meet and greet their peers in a welcoming party held attheir hotel. Competition day, Thursday, April 12, will begin with an opening cer- emony, immediately followed by the poster and pool competitions where pho-tographers and videographers will recordthe events, local media will be in atten- dance and a Master of Ceremonies willkeep the audience informed of the events and the teams competing. Through the day, poster presentations will be held for middle and high school teams to discusstheir design philosophy and construction challenges and to answer questions posedby the judges. The SeaPerch ROV tech- nical competition events in the pool will consist of an underwater obstacle course as well as a new salvage operations com- petition that is different from last year?s event, a description of which may be found on the SeaPerch website under?Rules and Events? on the National Chal- lenge page. Anyone interested in volun- teering to judge an event may visit www.mysignup.com/seaperch to register. Following the day?s competitions an awards dinner will be hosted at the Com- munity Center where Aneesh Chopra, former First American Federal Chief Technology Officer of the United States, has been invited to speak about the im- portance of STEM education to our na-tion. Lastly, presentations of trophies to the winning teams, and naming of themiddle and high school NationalSeaPerch Champions will be made.On Friday, April 13, the students will be treated to a number of informative vis- its in the area including Lockheed Mar- tin?s Advanced Technology Robotic Lab and the FBI?s Bomb Squad, where real- life applications of robotics will bedemonstrated. An educational tour of the Manassas Battlefield is also planned since it will be the 150th anniversary year of the Second Battle of Manassas. SusanNelson summed it up by saying, ?Noneof the growth we have experienced would have been possible without the tremen- dous support of the Office of Naval Re- search that believed in our vision of what this program could become.? Next year, the National SeaPerch Chal- lenge will be held on the campus of Indi-ana University-Perdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), and because of theunprecedented growth of the SeaPerch program and rapidly forming regions around the country, the event is expected to draw up to 150 teams. For news and updates about the National Challenge,visit the SeaPerch website,www.seaperch.org, and for questions please contact Phil Kimball, Program Di-rector, at [email protected]. 80Maritime Reporter & Engineering News TECHNICALEDUCATION MR March 12 # 10 (73-80):MR Template 3/6/2012 8:52 AM Page 80