Hampton Roads Chapter Highlights STEAM Competition and Scholarships 

The Future T&E Workforce Development Shifts Left

The Hampton Roads Chapter hosted the STEAMhack™ Chain Reaction Challenge at the Cybersecurity Workshop the last week of August in Virginia Beach, Virginia. This is a speed-building event where teams of 3-6 high school students receive a kit of materials and about 3 hours to build the most impressive chain reaction-style machine.  The students had to “Catch a Meteor” by building machines to launch and catch a meteor, and integrate the reason for catching a meteor into the story described by the team prior to the triggering of the chain reaction.

We are grateful to the leaders who served as the judges for this competition, Chris Collins, Executive Director, Development Test, Evaluation, and Assessments, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense (Research & Engineering), Justine Gayle, Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton, and Kaila Perry, Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic 5G. At the end of the day long event, the students were treated to a reception where they were awarded a John V. Bolino Scholarship!  First place winners were from Granby High School received $1000, second place $750 Princess Anne High School, and third place $500, Ocean Lakes High School. 

We extend our congratulations to the students for their creative solutions and to the faculty for seeing the value and making this happen on the second day of a new school year!