As Biddeford bid the crew of the USS San Juan submarine farewell, Sanford welcomed the members of the USS Miami’s crew to their community last week, and hopefully, residents will continue to embrace these service members for the next year and a half.
The USS Miami arrived at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for an overhaul March 1 and is expected to be in Maine until early November 2013. Sanford will serve as host community for the USS Miami crew.
The relationship is off to good start: A team from the USS Miami made an appearance late last week in Sanford to help science and technology students from Sanford Junior High School in “sea trials” of the Sea Perch ROV, a remotely operated vehicle, at the Sanford Springvale YMCA pool.
Crew members were there to help students with any problems they encountered with their Sea Perch vehicles. In all, about 250 Sanford Junior High School students took part in the project, which came about through a collaboration with Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
In addition to building relationships with crew members, students are also benefiting from the relationship with Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The Sea Perch, developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is designed to engage young people in science and engineering. Each vehicle took eight hours to build, using PVC pipe, a motor, floats and other materials. Students cut plastic pipe, soldered and drilled to build the submersible vehicles. They also built the frames, the thruster assemblies and the control box.
Sanford Junior High School technology teacher Sara Nason said the Sea Perch project imparts science, technology, engineering and mathematics to students as they work together to solve problems and create the robotic Sea Perch vehicles.
The project in Sanford was started by Ed Cormier, an engineer at the shipyard. The former Sanford resident contacted the school and asked if they’d be interested. Cormier said Portsmouth Naval Shipyard has taken the Sea Perch project to other schools as well.
The project highlights the many opportunities not only for the community, but for the young people of Sanford and Springvale to be enriched by engaging with the crew and shipyard.
As the year goes on, residents should take advantage of this opportunity and get to know the crew and their families. There could be many chances for crew members to partake in similar and other activities and programs in the town, which will benefit all involved.
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Today’s editorial was written by City Editor Robyn Burnham on behalf of the Journal Tribune Editorial Board. Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via email at kristenm@journaltribune.com.
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