ASD Students to Participate in ROV and Drone Competitions
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ASD students traveled to PR to work on SeaPerch with a school there. Courtesy photo
Students from the American School for the Deaf in West Hartford are participating in two upcoming STEM competitions.
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The American School for the Deaf (ASD) is excited to announce that ASD students will be participating in two upcoming STEM competitions.
On Thursday March 2, middle school students travel to Ethel Walker School in Simsbury for the annual SeaPerch ROV (remotely operated vehicle) competition. The next event, a drone competition, will be held Saturday March 4, at ASD’s campus gymnasium in West Hartford.
This year’s SeaPerch competition theme is underwater exploration, a topic ASD has been actively teaching for many years. Navy Divers from the Groton Sub Base and staff from the Nautilus Sub Museum will also be assisting. ASD implements a STEM-based learning curriculum which follows the Next Generation Science Standards. Recognizing this commitment to STEM has garnered support from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf’s Regional STEM Center (NRSC), which will be sponsoring the ROV competition for its second year in a row.
The competition will see 21 middle school and 19 high school teams participating, including 11 teams from schools for the deaf. ASD will send six teams of middle school students, some of whom traveled to Puerto Rico last fall and worked with Colegio San Gabriel (CSG) on building the ROV. CSG will be sending two teams to compete alongside their ASD peers. The top team in the middle school division and the high school division will receive a spot at the International SeaPerch Competition to be held at the University of Maryland on May 13th.
Spectators are welcome and encouraged to attend. The competition will begin at 8:30 a.m. March 2 and run through 2 p.m. Ethel Walker is located at 230 Bushy Hill Road, Simsbury, CT.
About SeaPerch: SeaPerch “aims to reduce traditional barriers to participation in robotics programs and promotes opportunities to engage students and educators in inquiry-based learning with real-world applications. As an educational program, SeaPerch introduces students to basic engineering, design, and science concepts. As a fun hands-on project, SeaPerch engages students and fosters key 21st century skills including critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity.”
The next upcoming STEM event is the Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation’s drone competition happening at ASD’s campus gymnasium. The Aerial Drone Competition (ADC) will take place Saturday March 4, with a welcome at 8 a.m., competition start time of 8:30 a.m., and an awards ceremony at 4:30 p.m. ASD is proud to host the first ADC competition for deaf and hard of hearing students, and will welcome 37 teams (14 high schools, 23 middle schools) representing states from across the country. For more information on ADC Mission 2023: Blackout, visit the website.
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