Table of Contents
- Location
- Date & Schedule
- Program Coordinator
- Facility Rules
- Weather
- Challenges
- Participating Schools
Event Location
Berks Career and Technology Center (BCTC)
West Campus
1057 County Rd, Leesport, PA 19533
Maps
PDR Due Date –
The Preliminary Design Review due date is TBD. Please submit PDRs in Word or .pdf format to Sea Air Land Group. Please do not submit links to sites such as SharePoint or Google.
Challenge Day Date – The Challenge is on! Challenge Day is set for Thursday, April 30th, 2026!
Challenge Day Schedule (typical shown)
| START | FINISH | ACTIVITY |
| 7:30 AM | 8:00 AM | Teams and Judges Arrival and Registration |
| 8:15 AM | 9:00 AM | Welcome and Keynote Speaker – auditorium |
| 9:00 AM | 10:50 AM | Morning Challenges – outdoors |
| 11:00 AM | 11:45 AM | Lunch provided – auditorium |
| 11:45 AM | 1:35 PM | Afternoon Challenges – outdoors |
| 1:35 PM | 1:45 PM | Scoring, Clean-up |
| 1:45 PM | 2:00 PM | Surveys, Closing Remarks, Awards and Photos – auditorium |
Regional Coordinator
Jill Darlington
Berks Co. IU
Office of Professional Development & Curriculum
jildar@berksiu.org
Jill Darlington
Central Coordinator
Susan Zingaro
The Pennsylvania State University
Applied Research Laboratory
222 Northpointe Boulevard
Freeport, PA 16229
Sea Air Land Group
Facility Rules
Conduct detrimental to the public interest or abuse of the building and grounds under any circumstances is expressly prohibited. The building, grounds, equipment and restrooms shall be left in a clean, orderly condition. Failure to do so may result in fees (as determined by the Owners) being assessed. No smoking is allowed in any building and no alcoholic beverages are permitted on the grounds.
Weather Considerations
The highest emphasis of safety will be placed on participants and staff. When there is lightning in the area, all outside activity will be suspended until the threatening weather leaves the area. Thank you for your understanding of our efforts to put safety first.
Challenges:
Sea – Following the sinking of a submarine in shallow waters during a training exercise in the Barents Sea, there is concern about potential radiation leaks from the onboard nuclear reactors. This leak could contaminate the sensitive fishing grounds. In the years following the incident and recovery, expeditions are being sent from the marine biology institute to the site annually to monitor for any increase in levels of radiation in the water, sediment, or marine life nearby. (In past years, only background radiation levels were measured.)
 |
Sea Guidelines 2025-2026 |
Air – Twentieth century activities, including nuclear weapons testing, uranium mining, and waste storage, contribute to elevated radiation measurements in some American desert areas. Natural occurring radiation is also present due to the higher altitudes of some of these desert areas as well as the composition of the local rocks and soil. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) outfitted with radiation detection sensors and automated data processing will scan the area to inspect for any levels of high radiation. In addition, the UAV will be able to drop markers on the detected “hot spots” to indicate a radiation danger zone for remediation crews. Note that time is of the essence as there is a lot of ground to cover and remediation should begin as soon as possible.
|
Air Guidelines 2025-2026 |
Land – A military compound in a hostile area has just been captured. It is suspected that the warehouse within the compound contains barrels emitting high levels of radiation. If this is true, it is too dangerous to send in a team with hand-held radiation detectors to verify what is contained in the building. Therefore, an unmanned rover with alpha, beta, neutron and gamma radiation sensing capabilities will be used to search the warehouse and remove the barrels, sorting those that are safe to handle from those that are not.
|
Land Guidelines 2025-2026 |
Participating Schools
2025 Participants:
Berks Career and Technology Center
Blue Mountain HS
Exeter Township Senior High School
Governor Mifflin High School
Lehigh Career and Tech Institute
Mahanoy Area Jr./Sr. High School
Minersville Area Junior/Senior High School
North Schuylkill Jr/Sr High School
Reading HS
2024 Participants:
Blue Mountain HS
Berks Career and Technology Center
Exeter Township Senior High School
Governor Mifflin High School
Lehigh Career and Tech Institute
Mahanoy Area Jr./Sr. High School
Minersville Area Junior/Senior High School
North Schuylkill Jr/Sr High School
Reading HS
2023 Participants:
Berks CTC
Exeter Township Senior High School
Governor Mifflin High School
Mahanoy Area Jr./Sr. High School
Minersville Area Junior/Senior High School
Reading High School
Wyomissing Area Jr/Sr High School
2022 Participants:
Berks CTC
Gov. Mifflin HS
Minersville HS
Reading HS
Schuylkill Valley HS
Wyomissing HS
Registered schools for 2020 Challenge:
Achievement House
Berks CTC
Gov. Mifflin
Reading HS
Schuylkill Valley
Wyomissing
2019 Participating Schools:
Bloomsburg HS
Reading HS
Wyomissing HS