On March 16th approximately 100 students from 9 Middle Schools throughout the Hampton Roads Area participated in the 17th Annual Ship Repair Digital Innovation Competition at Nauticus. The event - which promotes the ship repair industry while increasing competitive mathematical, analytical, and conceptual skills in middle school aged students proved to be a great success again this year.
Four of the competing schools were new to the competition this year, including Chesapeake Academy who earned a $250 cash prize as one of the finalists. Many schools expressed gratitude for the opportunity provided to the students to compete, we received the following testimonial:
I want to thank you guys for hosting this event! As a special education teacher, it has been an awesome experience having 3 of our special education students able to participate on our team in an event like this. They have really stepped outside of their comfort zone, and it has been such an amazing opportunity for them. I cannot express how amazing it has been to see a student with autism who has struggled to work collaboratively with others jump into a project like this and be excited to work with other students and willing to participate in public speaking. My student with a disability in written expression was excited to be part of creating the presentation and assisting with the report. It isn’t often that I get to see some of my kiddos with disabilities this excited about putting in a lot of hard work, so I just wanted to make sure you guys know how great this experience has been for me and my students! Thank you so much! 😊
2023 Winners and Finalists:
1st Place: Page Middle School, Gloucester
2nd Place: St. Matthew's Catholic School, Virginia Beach
3rd Place: Academy at Rosemont, Norfolk
Finalist: Chesapeake Academy, Irvington
Thank you to the SPONSORS of the 17th Annual Ship Repair Digital Innovation Competition:
BAE Systems Norfolk Ship Repair, Platinum
East Coast Repair & Fabrication, Platinum
General Dynamics NASSCO Norfolk, Platinum
Newport News Shipbuilding, Platinum
Bay Metals & Fabrication, LLC, Gold
G2 Ops, Inc., Gold
Lyon Shipyard, Inc., Gold
Hampton Roads Workforce Council, Silver
Shipyard Staffing LLC, Silver
Tecnico Corporation, Silver
Thank you to the JUDGES, that had the difficult task of choosing this years finalist and winners.
Gabby Coley, G2 Ops, Inc.
Rene Doiron, East Coast Repair & Fabrication
Jon Nash, Commander, Navy Regional Maintenance Center Operations Department - Surface Availability Execution (C331)
Terry Stead, Tecnico Corporation
Casey Tarnowski, Lyon Shipyard, Inc.
Alicia Uzzle, Newport News Shipbuilding
Thank you to the Technical Advisors who have shared their knowledge of the ship repair industry with the competing schools.
AOIS Rosemont Middle School - Marcia Downing, Newport News Shipbuilding
Chesapeake Academy - Rob Beech, Shipyard Staffing LLC
Landstown Middle School - Ryan Chrisom and Kyle Pins, General Dynamics NASSCO-Norfolk
Nansemond-Suffolk Academy - Samantha Dixon and Shajuanna Loftin, Thermcor Inc.
Page Middle School - Robbie Walker, Marine Chemist Service, Inc.
Peasley Middle School - Jason Kjos, East Coast Repair & Fabrication
Ruffner Academy Middle School - Bill Miller, Fairlead Integrated
St. Matthew's Catholic School - Wigberto Rivera, East Coast Repair & Fabrication
Vernon Johns Middle School - Nikki Vaughn and Sean Mathews, Bay Metals & Fabrication
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