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Sanctuary newsletter highlights ROV competition in American Samoa

Pictured are some students from Samoana HS getting advice from a visiting Michigan student on starting their own underwater robotics teams.
compiled by Samoa News staff

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — An electronic newsletter that's been shared with all the 13 Sanctuary sites across the US and their constituents is out. This is most notable, in that a recent student/ teacher workshop helped launch the first official underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) competition in American Samoa last month. The event was coordinated by NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa and the local Dept. of Education. 

A team of students from Michigan — collectively known as the Stockbridge InvenTeam — traveled 7,000 miles to the NMSAS to "engage in outreach at local Samoan high schools. While there, they also helped Sanctuary staff conduct research using their ROVs."

In Nov. 2018, fifty students representing all local public and private schools, including Manu'a and even the American Samoa Community College (ASCC) participated in the first ever two-day Underwater ROV workshop, led by robotics instructor Bob Richards and math teacher Lori Zemke who chaperoned the 13 Stockbridge students who were here to help local youth with the proper technique of building — and operating — an ROV.

While here, the InvenTeam deployed an underwater ROV and camera system in the Aunu'u Sanctuary area.