Eighth Grade Races Underwater ROVs in Swimming Pool

For the past few years, 8th grade students at Villa Maria Academy have participated in the Sea Perch Program. This underwater robotics program, sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, integrates engineering and science concepts in the construction of an ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle).

The Eighth grade girls have been working very hard the past few weeks to finish constructing and programming their vehicles with Mrs.Bellopede and Mrs. Duke. They also learned how to calculate the density and buoyancy of their vehicles with Mrs. Duke in the Science Lab. “We integrate the knowledge learned from building and working SeaPerch into the classroom by timing lessons according to the various building stages,” said Mrs. Duke. Each team also got to decorate their ROV to express their team’s individuality.

The girls were able to test out their ROVs in the pool before the race to see if they need to make any tweaks to their programming before the final launch yesterday. There was a series of races until the final three teams competed for the trophy. Faculty, Staff, Parents and their First grade “little sisters” all came to cheer them on. All the teams did a great job! Congratulations to Poseidon’s Heir, the winning team of the event.