Team G.S.P. (Genesis Sea Perch), a 7th grade Seaperch team from Parkview School has qualified to compete at the International Seaperch Challenge at the University of Maryland on May 13.
The three-member team including Buoncent Priestly, Brandon Guox Lopez and David Andrade will be joining 173 other teams from the United States and U.S. territories at the event.
Seaperch is an innovative underwater robotics program that provides students the opportunity to learn about robotics, engineering, science, and mathematics (STEM) while building an underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), following a curriculum that teaches basic engineering and science concepts with a marine engineering theme.
This year, all of Parkview’s Seaperch teams did well and Team G.S.P.’s success at the regional competition held in mid-March at UC Riverside led to their qualifying for the International Challenge.
Parkview School’s Seaperch program is led by teachers Arlene LeGaspe and Herman Ruvalcaba and they are congratulated for providing students with the opportunity to explore underwater robotics and new opportunities in STEM.
Our afterschool Seaperch teams have met two days a week since October at our Seaperch stations on the Kranz property and at our pool at South El Monte High School,” said LeGaspe. “The students have put in a lot of hours and we are very proud of all of them. We’ve been offering the Seaperch program for nine years and this is our first invitation to compete in the International Seaperch Challenge and we are very excited for our students to participate and compete with students from all over the world,” she added.
Completing an underwater obstacle course with his ROV at South El Monte High, GPS team member, David Andrade shared how he was feeling about the upcoming international competition.
“I’m excited and a little bit nervous to go to the International Challenge in Maryland. It’s going to be a great experience and I hope we do well,” said Andrade.
The nine members of Parkview’s Seaperch group along with LeGaspe and Ruvalcaba, will be spending six days on a study trip, traveling to the University of Maryland for the International SeaPerch Challenge and then visiting Washington DC and Virginia to see some of our nation’s historical sites.
“I’m really excited to go on the study trip and gain new experiences,” said Ede Figuroa, 8th grade Seaperch member. “I’ve really enjoyed being in Seaperch and Mrs. LeGaspe and Mr. Ruvalcaba are really good teachers. I’m looking forward to an incredible trip.”