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www.seadiscovery.com Marine Technology Reporter 7 news placed first overall. High Tech achieved a clean sweep of all categories: Pool Mission, Engineering Evaluation, Written Report, and Poster scores. The team will move on to the Nationals that will be held at the NASA Johnson Space Center Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston, Texas, to defend its National Champion title. Milton Academy of Milton, Mass., placed second, and will go on to the Nationals as well. Third place went to The Sound School Team 2 of New Haven, Conn. High Tech High had a team of 16 stu- dents ranging from freshmen to seniors. The school is one of several public Magnet Schools in New Jersey which admit stu- dents based on performance into specific career track programs, including, engineer- ing, marine science and allied health care. There were two additional entries from a sister Magnet School, Marine Academy of Science and Technology (MAST), which is also located in New Jersey. Last year High Tech came in second in the Regional competition and won the Nationals. This year the team improved the propellers and motors and it was able to conduct more testing prior to arrival. The team also changed the frame from alu- minum — which created too much drag — to 0.25-in. steel rod. Because the require- ments of the event entailed picking up a one kg box from the pool bottom, it was necessary to add a ballast system, which in their case ended up being a buoyancy com- pensator modeled after those used by SCUBA divers. All the electronics were cus- tom built to withstand complete water emersion. The Sound School of New Haven, Conn., also entered two teams. Team 1 was a team of 11 seniors. This year The Sound School used sealed cameras instead of the ones that leaked last year. Also, due to a technicality in the rules, the team had to change its design significantly, losing nearly seven weeks of work and meaning that the vehicle was not ever tested in the water. As it turned out, on race day the team was unable to get the system wet. The Sound School's Team 2, comprised of freshmen performed very well, placing third overall. Tolland High School, also from Connecticut, entered this year for the first time. The team created a Technology Club for the sole purpose of building an under- water vehicle, and the faculty advisor sug- gested they contact MATE for additional MTR#5 (1-16).qxd 6/16/2006 10:57 AM Page 7
