Fleet Week in Miami is a chance for the public to tour the Navy’s warships, but it also provides an educational opportunity for school kids.
The robotics team from Coral Park Senior High School explored the USS Leyte Gulf, a guided missile cruiser, on a special invitation from the Navy. A bunch of techie, engineering kids seeing high-tech Navy gear — a perfect combination.
“I think it’s inspiring, honestly, seeing all of this, like, industrial grade manufacturing, design stuff, it’s pretty cool,” said Andres Batista, a senior.
“This is awesome, I’ve always been very much into weaponry and that side of engineering, so seeing it all on board the ship is super, super cool to me,” added Jake Daniel, another senior on the Ram Tech robotics team.
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The team had a special tour guide, someone who knew exactly what they were thinking at the same age because she was a robotics kid, too.
“I do anti-ship missile defense,” said Chief Petty Officer Sam Adams, speaking to the team.
Adams connected the dots between robotics in high school and keeping a warship running.
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“I fix that system regularly, which includes figuring out why it’s not working, knowing intimately how it works, and also the same skills you guys use, so I do soldering, I do parts replacement,” Adams said, with the students gathered around her.
“Like even at home, I like to help my mom fix things around the house so I just think that I love doing that and it’s very related to what we do in robotics,” said MIT-bound senior, Isabela Villar.
The Ram Tech team didn’t just come to gawk at a ship, they came to show off their latest robot. They put their machine through its paces, picking up and tossing discs, as crew members from the Leyte Gulf watched.
The team finished sixth in their division at the First Robotics world championships in Houston last month. The Navy noticed and invited them to Fleet Week.
I asked Adams if it was important for the Navy to reach out to kids like the members of the robotics team.
“I think it’s incredibly important, just the skills they learned in high school would serve them very well it they want to join the Navy, having some technical acumen is so important,” Adams responded.
As field trips go, this was a perfect fit.
“This is an incredible experience for them,” said their teacher, Charlie Delahoz. “I think the fact that they can see the real stuff is absolutely encouraging and motivating.”
