2012 National SeaPerch Challenge

Building on the success of the 2011 Challenge, the 2012 National SeaPerch Challenge will be hosted by the Prince William County Public Schools on April 11-13, 2012 at the Manassas Park Community Center in Manassas Park, Virginia. We expect to double the size of the event with up to 80 teams of four students and one advisor/teacher per team. Adding teams, parents, volunteers, judges, VIPs, speakers and committee members, we project a total of 450 attendees. On the evening of Wednesday, April 11, arrival day, there will be a welcoming party held at the Comfort Suites Hotel. On April 12, competition day, a poster competition will be held for middle and high school teams to display their posters and deliver oral presentations about their design philosophy and construction challenges and answer questions posed by the judges. The technical competition events in the pool will consist both of an obstacle course and a new underwater operations challenge. Specifications for building your own "Salvage Operations" event are posted on the SeaPerch website so teams may build their own for practice prior to the national competition. 

On competition day, there will be an opening ceremony, photographers and videographers recording the events, local media in attendance and a Master of Ceremonies whose job will be to keep the audience informed of the events as they progress through the day. Lunch and snacks will be provided for participants and observers who have registered. That evening, dinner and presentation of the awards will be hosted at the Community Center for approximately 450 attendees. Aneesh Chopra, former White House Chief Technology Officer, has been invited to speak at dinner on the importance of STEM to our nation. Over 75 corporate representatives, VIPs, and US Navy and Coast Guard personnel who are attending the banquet will be invited to judge the various competitions and to interact with the students. A triage station will be provided for student teams to make repairs, adjustments and rebalance their SeaPerch ROVs.Visits to Lockheed Martin and Micron Technology are planned for Friday, April 13, along with a robotic demonstration by the FBI's Bomb Squad. In observance of the 150th anniversary year of the Second Battle of Manassas, an educational tour of the battlefield is planned. Shuttle bus transportation will be provided over the two days for travel to and from the hotel and the Community Center and to local sites for the educational tours and corporation visits.

All student participants will receive National SeaPerch Challenge T-shirts and giveaway bags with items provided both by SeaPerch and by our hosts, Prince William County Schools.

Teams will be responsible for their own travel and hotel costs and pay a nominal registration fee to compete in the Challenge. All other attendees and observers, except for VIPs, judges, volunteers and committee members, will pay a modest entry fee to help to offset expenses. Sponsorship opportunities will be available for individual, local and corporate funding, details of which will be posted on the SeaPerch website.

Certificates of participation and appreciation will be posted on the SeaPerch website both for student participants and for teachers and advisors following the National Challenge.