Regional Coordinators
The Sea Air and Land Challenge is offered in regions around the U.S.A. Each region consists of a regional coordinator/host and three to twelve schools or youth organizations who design and build robotic systems at their home locations during the course of a semester and then come together on Challenge Day at the host’s choice of location. As the name of this STEM initiative implies, teams may build submersibles for the Sea Challenge, drones for the Air Challenge or rovers for the Land Challenge.
The program is typically offered during the spring semester, but as a regional coordinator, you may choose to offer it over the fall semester, or as a summer camp. Challenge Day is a one day event, held near the end of the semester or camp session. The Challenge Day location is selected by the Regional Coordinator, and is usually within a one to two hour drive of each of the participating schools. On Challenge Day, students learn about the tremendous careers available to them in or supporting the military from the keynote speaker, then the teams compete against each other to determine whose robotic system best meets the needs of each of the Challenge “missions”!
Who are Regional Coordinators? RCs are often educators or administrators and staff from schools, school districts (cities, counties, intermediate units, etc.), colleges or STEM organizations. Other groups may also choose to organize and/or host a regional Sea Air and Land Challenge.
What are an RC’s responsibilities? The main functions of a regional coordinator are to communicate with local schools and to coordinate Challenge Day.
What are the benefits of hosting a Sea Air and Land Challenge? The benefits may come in many forms including (but not limited to) providing local students with an engaging hands-on opportunity to learn about engineering and technical careers, or showcasing your campus and STEM programs to potential students.
What else should an RC know? The Sea Air and Land Challenge program, nicknamed the SeAL Challenge, is a flexible program that can be tailored to the needs of the students in your region. This may include hosting the program over the summer or fall semester, or including or focusing on middle school or college students. The RC never goes it alone, but will be helped through the process from invitations through Challenge Day by the Sea Air and Land Group.
Please contact the Sea Air and Land Group at Penn State’s Applied Research Laboratory if you are interested in hosting the Challenge in your region.