Grant High School / SeaPerch
Donation protected
Grant High School has the opportunity to showcase two of our students’ skills at a National Underwater Robotics event, competing with a student-built UAV called “SeaPerch”, which is sponsored through the United States Navy. This GoFundMe page serves two purposes; funding the expenses of the team (two students and a chaperone) who are traveling to Georgia to compete in the National competition, and to help provide financial stability to ensure that the engineering program is sustainable for future years.
Grant High School has been fortunate to receive a grant to implement “Project Lead the Way” (PLTW) in our high school, which is a curriculum designed to further students’ interests in the sciences. Grant High School is developing an engineering department, with courses in Introduction to Engineering Design and Principles of Engineering being offered in the 2017-18 school year. Along with the PLTW courses, Grant High School has received grant funding through the Navy to participate in the “SeaPerch” program. In this after-school activity, students design an underwater autonomous vehicle (UAV) to compete at a regional competition. Students are told what the challenges are at the competition, so that they can design their UAV to meet the specific needs of the competition. The “robots” are a box of PVC pipes and parts. Students have to solder together their own controllers, build the frame, waterproof their own motors, and write an Engineering Notebook that documents this whole process. These two opportunities have highlighted the burgeoning Engineering department at GHS, and provided many new opportunities for our students.
STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. STEM is important because it pervades every part of our lives. Science is everywhere in the world around us. Technology is continuously expanding into every aspect of our lives. Engineering is the basic designs of roads and bridges, but also tackles the challenges of changing global weather and environmentally-friendly changes to our home. Mathematics is in every occupation; every activity we do in our lives. By exposing students to STEM and giving them opportunities to explore STEM-related concepts, they will develop a passion for it and hopefully pursue a job in a STEM field.
In the 2016-17 School year, Grant High School came home with 7 of 21 trophies from the regional competition, including overall winner and grand champion. Due to school board policy, the 2015-16 team was not able to travel out-of-state to compete in the National competition. The school board changed this policy over the summer, during routine review of their policies.
While the initial building of the robots has been funded by the US Navy as a STEM outreach program, the competitions and continued exposure of the teams to the engineering process is the responsibility of the individual schools. This competition is not able to be funded by the school, since it was not in the initial budget for the school year.
The costs include:
o $200 ROV Entry Fee (1)
o $75 Competitor/Coach Fee (3)
o $225 a person for lodging at Georgia Tech (3)
o $300 in gas money
The goal of the GoFundMe page is more than the overall costs of the trip. The intent of this GoFundMe page is to not only fund this year’s trip, but to also help make the SeaPerch competition sustainable, and ensure that future groups of students will be able to compete in the regional, and possibly national, competitions. Other things we would use these funds for, after paying for the competition:
o Future robots – ensure this program continues ($179 a piece)
o Tools to further get students involved in the engineering process
o Soldering irons, Raspberry Pi, Arduinos, Grippers, etc
Our competition is on May 19th, and we would like funding for the trip in place before that date if possible. The students of Grant High School, and the team going to the National Underwater Autonomous Vehicle Competition would be most appreciative of any support you were able to provide them. Your donating to this fund will help pay for the trip this year, and also ensuring that future years of students at Grant High School are able to experience the process of engineering, and help cultivate the engineering mindset in another group of students.
Grant High School has been fortunate to receive a grant to implement “Project Lead the Way” (PLTW) in our high school, which is a curriculum designed to further students’ interests in the sciences. Grant High School is developing an engineering department, with courses in Introduction to Engineering Design and Principles of Engineering being offered in the 2017-18 school year. Along with the PLTW courses, Grant High School has received grant funding through the Navy to participate in the “SeaPerch” program. In this after-school activity, students design an underwater autonomous vehicle (UAV) to compete at a regional competition. Students are told what the challenges are at the competition, so that they can design their UAV to meet the specific needs of the competition. The “robots” are a box of PVC pipes and parts. Students have to solder together their own controllers, build the frame, waterproof their own motors, and write an Engineering Notebook that documents this whole process. These two opportunities have highlighted the burgeoning Engineering department at GHS, and provided many new opportunities for our students.
STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. STEM is important because it pervades every part of our lives. Science is everywhere in the world around us. Technology is continuously expanding into every aspect of our lives. Engineering is the basic designs of roads and bridges, but also tackles the challenges of changing global weather and environmentally-friendly changes to our home. Mathematics is in every occupation; every activity we do in our lives. By exposing students to STEM and giving them opportunities to explore STEM-related concepts, they will develop a passion for it and hopefully pursue a job in a STEM field.
In the 2016-17 School year, Grant High School came home with 7 of 21 trophies from the regional competition, including overall winner and grand champion. Due to school board policy, the 2015-16 team was not able to travel out-of-state to compete in the National competition. The school board changed this policy over the summer, during routine review of their policies.
While the initial building of the robots has been funded by the US Navy as a STEM outreach program, the competitions and continued exposure of the teams to the engineering process is the responsibility of the individual schools. This competition is not able to be funded by the school, since it was not in the initial budget for the school year.
The costs include:
o $200 ROV Entry Fee (1)
o $75 Competitor/Coach Fee (3)
o $225 a person for lodging at Georgia Tech (3)
o $300 in gas money
The goal of the GoFundMe page is more than the overall costs of the trip. The intent of this GoFundMe page is to not only fund this year’s trip, but to also help make the SeaPerch competition sustainable, and ensure that future groups of students will be able to compete in the regional, and possibly national, competitions. Other things we would use these funds for, after paying for the competition:
o Future robots – ensure this program continues ($179 a piece)
o Tools to further get students involved in the engineering process
o Soldering irons, Raspberry Pi, Arduinos, Grippers, etc
Our competition is on May 19th, and we would like funding for the trip in place before that date if possible. The students of Grant High School, and the team going to the National Underwater Autonomous Vehicle Competition would be most appreciative of any support you were able to provide them. Your donating to this fund will help pay for the trip this year, and also ensuring that future years of students at Grant High School are able to experience the process of engineering, and help cultivate the engineering mindset in another group of students.
Organizer and beneficiary
Mike Maksimchuk
Organizer
Ashland, MI
Jonathan Whan
Beneficiary
