PA – Berks Co

Table of Contents

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 Friday, February 21st, 2025.  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 2025 Challenge is on!  The 2025 Challenge Day will be held Wednesday, April 30th, 2025.

Challenge Day Schedule (typical shown)
7:30 AM – 8 AM          Teams and Judges Arrival and Registration
8:15 AM-9 AM             Welcome and Keynote Speaker – auditorium
9 AM -10:50 AM          Morning Challenges – outdoors.  Air followed by Land.
11 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 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 – A container ship full of cargo was anchored outside of port in 30 meters of water, awaiting their scheduled time to unload at the dock in port, when it was hit by a rogue wave. As the crew had already loosened some of the straps in preparation for unloading, many of the containers were knocked into the water. Some of these containers included radioactive materials. These containers need to be retrieved as soon as possible. Due to the portside activity in the aftermath of the rogue wave, the safest and most efficient means of recovery will be to send a submersible to gather the containers.

Sea Guidelines 2024-2025

Air – A freight train has derailed in a very sparsely populated area.  Cars from the train are scattered widely.  Some of these train cars were carrying irradiated materials and radioactive samples headed to a laboratory for an experiment.   While emergency crews prepare to travel to the wreck site, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) with radiation detection capabilities is being sent to the scene to survey the site. The UAV will be used to locate the cars which were carrying the materials and samples, and which may now have damaged packaging.  With cameras, sensors and automated image processing, the UAV will fly over the wreckage and determine if any radiative matter is uncontained.  A live relay of this information will be sent to the first responders, allowing them to remain protected at a safe distance until the best method of response is determined.  In addition, the UAV will be able to drop markers on “hot spots” to indicate a radiation danger zone and serve as a warning to these emergency ground crews.

Air Guidelines 2024-2025

Land – A wildfire moving through a game preserve has scattered the animals and destroyed some of their habitat.  As the high winds continually shift the wildfires, the danger of the situation would be increased if manned rescue teams were dispersed to locate and gather the animals.  Therefore, your team, with an unmanned land rover, is being sent for the animals in order to bring them in for safety and evaluation.  The animals will be placed in temporary housing until the fire is extinguished, repairs to the habitats can be made and the area is safe.

Land Guidelines 2024-2025

Participating Schools
2024 Participants:
Blue Mountain HS
Berks Career & 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