June 27, 2024 – Congratulations to the Mayport Center College Sharks Robotics Membership, who earned worldwide bragging rights after setting a brand new world report on the annual Worldwide SeaPerch Problem’s underwater robotics competitors.
Sixth grade pupil, Emily Olson’s workforce gained the worldwide title for the center faculty open class.
“I inform folks I gained a world competitors, and so they form of have a look at me like is she telling the reality,” stated Olson. “It’s actually cool to be in sixth grade, and we’re doing replicas of actual issues that actual robots are doing within the ocean.”
The varsity’s robotics membership wrapped up its seventh yr collaborating within the SeaPerch program successful 10 trophies. SeaPerch is a STEM schooling program that teaches fifth by means of 12th grade college students real-world engineering and challenge design centered round constructing an underwater distant operated automobile (ROV). The competitors requires college students to maneuver objects underwater inside a pool inside a sure period of time utilizing a robotic they’ve designed from scratch.
“One of many missions required us to select up a temperature sensor in a 45-degree connector,” stated seventh grader Daniel Keith Shelton. “One other required us to open and shut doorways and choose up rock samples and put them in a basket.”
This yr, college students traveled to Baltimore to the College of Maryland’s campus for the competitors and confronted off towards college students from different international locations and states like Puerto Rico, China, and New Zealand.
Mayport college students have grow to be high performers, beating out 175 center and highschool groups from around the globe throughout the final two years. College students say it took a whole lot of hours of observe after faculty and in the course of the weekend to assist cause them to successful worldwide awards.
“My workforce labored fairly exhausting over the yr,” stated Shelton. “It feels good to see your entire work paying off on the finish as a result of I felt fairly pleased with myself after we bought first place internationally.”
The town of Atlantic Seashore, St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Haskell Firm, and The Participant’s Championship all helped make the journey doable. This Monday, college students confirmed as much as the Atlantic Seashore commissioners assembly to thank them for his or her help of their groups.
“That is displaying them the longer term and displaying what’s doable,” stated Todd Caraway, the workforce’s coordinator. “You watch the struggles initially in September, October, November. You see success by means of the remainder of the yr and actually conducting issues.”
Mayport has gained not less than 50 trophies and awards between regional and worldwide competitions and the groups are already wanting ahead to subsequent yr.
“I’m hoping it’ll encourage others to check out the robotics,” stated eighth grade pupil Darrell Shelton. “It improves our workforce constructing expertise and improves improvement of robots.”