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Underwater robotics club gaining popularity at South Fayette

By Jacob Calvin Meyer staff Writer jmeyer@thealmanac.Net 3 min read
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A year after five South Fayette High School students and teacher Brian Garlick started the underwater robotics club, the group has grown to 35 students participating in the award-winning club.

“It’s very unique for a high school (in the area) to be competing in underwater robotics competitions,” Garlick said.

Lisa Passyn, one of the club’s advisor’s, said the success of the five students last year, winning several trophies at the Marine Advanced Technology Education regional competition, sparked the growth this year.

“I think the students who started this club, they had success their first year, which within South Fayette people learn about those things pretty quickly,” Passyn said. “I also think that as more students becoming interested with things like our brand new fab lab, which I think attracts people to look into a club like this. They see what the students are doing, and it’s kind of contagious.”

The club sent three teams of students to the MATE regional competition on May 12, one of which won four awards in the second highest classification. The “Marine Masterminds” team, comprised of seven high school students and one middle school student, won awards for innovation and originality, product presentation, technical documentation and spirit and sportsmanship. The members of the team who made and worked on the remotely operated underwater vehicle were Saranraj Govindaraj, Ezhil Maruthupandian, Yugal Kithany, Varun Sundaram, Abhinav Srinivasan, Daksith Ragupathi, Saif Mohammad and Vinay Sriharish

“It’s amazing how much they really put their heart and souls into these designs and into their marketing and their companies,” said Sgt. Jeff Sgro, the school’s resource officer and one of the club’s advisors.

The competition isn’t just about ROVs, but teams are tasked with creating a business model and marketing strategy. At the competition, teams searched for simulated lost aircrafts and collected data underwater.

“The competition is meant to mimic real-world problems,” Passyn said. “The degree of difficulty underwater or the tasks that they have to do get more advanced as the levels get higher. In general, they’re still focusing on real-world issues.”

South Fayette also had an all-girls team at the competition, something that is rare for STEM competitions.

“Another thing that possibly was attractive this year is that we have an all girls team,” Passyn said. “I do think it was a way to attract more young ladies into the STEM world where they could feel not as intimidated.”

Patrick Cannon, the club’s president, said the competition was one of the highlights of being in the club.

“I liked the competition because it has both the technical design and the company marketing structure that allowed me to practice what I’ll be doing in real-life scenarios,” he said.

Cannon, a junior, said the club’s increased popularity can be attributed to the experience you gain in it.

“When I went into high school I was looking to expand my horizons as far as technology,” Cannon said. “The knowledge you gain is why it’s so popular with students and the ability to practice what you’ll be using in real life.”

Sgro said the club is a “huge” time commitment for both the students and the advisors.

“It’s time well spent,” Sgro said. “It’s time where us as adults get to connect with the students in a more personal way and we learn their strengths and weaknesses and we learn how to challenge them and they learn how to problem solve. It’s just a fantastic experience.”

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