Chester High School Robotics Team in 2015 SeaPerch Challenge

The Chester High School Robotics Team Entered the 2015 Greater Philadelphia SeaPerch Challenge by Dr. Roslyn March-Amegadzie

Donte Johnson, Willie Mallory III, and Shamour Young discussing strategy by the pool

Few people know this, but if you look in the water under the Clipper Ship you will find orcas.  That is the name chosen by Chester High School’s Robotics Team to represent the fact that their robots are underwater vehicles.  The Orcas have participated in the Greater SeaPerch Challenge several times during the past ten years that the competition has taken place.  This year’s team members are Donte Johnson, Willie Mallory III, Mohammed Ragaa, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Jessica Vega, and Shamour Young with Roslyn March-Amegadzie as the coach. 

Jessica Vega posing by the poster

On Saturday, April 25^th, the team gathered at the Athletics Center on the campus of Drexel University to participate in the robotics challenge which is open to high schools in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.  The goal of the seaperch challenge is to give students an overall experience in the engineering process and to increase interest in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and robotics.  The Chester High School Robotics Team participated in the pool performance challenge, the notebook challenge, and the poster presentation challenge.  Forty-four schools entered the competition.  Overall, using scores from the three challenges, Chester High School’s robotic team was ranked #15.  The goal is to have practice in a pool next year, refine the notebook, and practice more on the oral presentation in order to bring that rank within at least the top 5.  The team members are already discussing ways to improve the robot’s design.  One great outcome of participation is that all members gained experience using computer assisted drawing (SolidWorks).