Mt. Ararat HS students to represent Maine at international robotics competition for second year

After winning a regional event, Mt. Ararat High School Science Club students are now preparing for an international robotics competition.

Coach Glenn Evans (left) with two-thirds of the Lunchboxes team — Paige Swanson (center) and Sandra Streeter (right). Team member Ethan Hanna not pictured. Tracy Newman photo

The club, coached by Mt. Ararat science teacher Glenn Evans and Mt. Ararat graduate Matt Berger, won all events at the Northern New England Seaperch Aquatic Robotics Competition on April 6 at the Greely High School pool in Cumberland. The competition challenges students to design and construct an aquatic, remotely operated vehicle (ROV) using defined materials plus no more than $25 of additional materials that can include 3D-printed parts. Students start planning, designing, constructing, and testing in late November preparing for the regional competition in April.

Teams are judged on an obstacle course of hoops the ROV needs to pass through, a mission challenge where tasks of manipulating and moving items need to be completed, and a technical design report about their team’s engineering process.

One Mt. Ararat team, the Serpents, composed of Charles Scribner, Finn Dedek, Sebastian Fiori, Lucas Pinkham and Ryan Sweet, finished first overall with first-place finishes in the Obstacle Course and Technical Design Report, and a first-place tie in the Mission Challenge. A second team, the Lunchboxes, composed of Paige Swanson, Sandra Streeter and Ethan Hanna finished second overall with a first-place tie in the Mission Challenge. Mt. Ararat High School will represent the state of Maine at the 2024 International SeaPerch Challenge at University of Maryland May 31 and June 1. The team will work to improve their ROV and raise funds as they prepare. Last year, Mt. Ararat finished 13th overall among the 70 competing high schools.

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