High school students discover career paths through NUWC Division Newport’s Undersea Technology Apprenticeship Program

NEWPORT, R.I.–Fifty high school students, participating in the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport’s annual summer Undersea Technology Apprenticeship Program (UTAP), aimed at introducing students to STEM by building hands-on skills in robotics and engineering, received guidance from employees on potential career tracks.

The students from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, California and Texas attended this year’s program during two three-week sessions held in July and August.

Michael DeSousa, program manager for K-12 STEM Outreach at Division Newport, recruited volunteers from Division Newport’s technical departments to speak with the students about what career paths they followed.

“A big thing that we modified this year was letting the students know about the work that NUWC does,” DeSousa said. “We gave them exposure to the technical codes and to the students from the academy so they could go beyond learning just about the vehicle. They can see how what we do here relates to other work that is happening. Because we give them that exposure, the students can tie what we did here to what they will do college [and] post-college. This directly translates into potential future work.”

Marielle Michno, a computer scientist in Division Newport’s Undersea Warfare Weapons, Vehicles, and Defensive Systems Department, who attended UTAP in 2018, said that the program helped to guide her toward her current career.

“UTAP was my first hands-on experience working with team members who had different areas of expertise to reach a common goal,” Michno said. “That experience directly translates to my daily responsibilities where I collaborate with subject matter experts to develop comprehensive system solutions. Ultimately, success is not only driven by having the appropriate technical knowledge but by being able to collaborate effectively.”

UTAP participant Averi Perreira, a senior at Fairhaven High School in Massachusetts, said that hearing from employees was a real benefit in the program.

“Knowing what we are working on here and learning about what the professionals are doing makes me think of how I can connect to the real world,” Perreira said. “This gave me more confidence going into college and going into the professional world knowing that I am already getting such good experience here.”

After the lectures, teams designed a SeaPerch remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and participated in a series of competitions to test the ROVs.

To build their ROV, the students were given a single board computer, known as a Raspberry Pi, a video game controller, a custom circuit board, a camera, a motor and a tether cable. Each team is also given “UTAP bucks” to purchase additional parts to help improve ROV design or make repairs. They can earn more bucks by performing well during in-pool challenges or scoring high grades on quizzes. While testing, competing and revising their ROV design, each team documented their changes in their engineering notebook and final report.

Despite the challenges, many of the students developed new skills and learned from their teammates.

“Since the program moved really fast, I think we also got better at time management,” said Vincenzo Paliotta, a senior at Cranston West High School in Rhode Island. “We only have five hours a day. We might have a competition or a three-hour lecture, so we really didn’t have much time to build the robot. In a limited amount of time, we all got better at doing things fast.”

“This was an opportunity to work with a great group of people,” said Daniel Campos, a senior at Apponequet Regional High School in Lakeville, Massachusetts.

Participating in UTAP further cemented career goals for some of the students and led to self-discovery for others. “I didn’t necessarily come into this thinking it would persuade me into a career in engineering, but I knew I wanted to try something new and in STEM,” said Margo Poyant, a senior at Fairhaven High School in Massachusetts. “I wanted to be exposed to new things to discover whether I liked it.”

Taking on a leadership role was new to Jessie Brine, a senior at The Met East Bay School in Newport, Rhode Island. “I didn’t realize that I’d fall into a leadership or management role on a team, and make sure that we were staying on task,” Brine said. “I feel like I did a lot of that and didn’t realize that it was something I would be good at.” Team Jeremy was the winning team in session one. Members included Rhode Island students Stella Pelagio of La Salle Academy in Providence, Lucas Borge of North Kingstown High School and Renee Tamayo of South Kingstown High School; and Massachusetts student Harry Jasinski of Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth.

Team Rover, the winning team from the second session, included Massachusetts students, Julian Schmitt of The Newman School in Boston and Jacob Bashour of Bishop Stang High School; and Rhode Island students Maya McDevitt of South Kingstown High School, Mason Rose of Scituate High School and Silias Hoefferle of Moses Brown School in Providence.

With continuous advances in technology, DeSousa is now planning for the program’s future. “We are always looking to push UTAP, so that way it is always pushing students. For the future, we have big ideas,” DeSousa said. “We’d like to incorporate touch screens and improve the technology on the vehicles themselves, so that way the students are using cutting edge technology and techniques.”

Applications for the 2027 summer sessions will be posted in March at: https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Warfare-Centers/NUWC-Newport/Career-Opportunities/High-School-Internships/

NUWC Newport is the oldest warfare center in the country, tracing its heritage to the Naval Torpedo Station established on Goat Island in Newport Harbor in 1869.Commanded by Capt. Kevin Behm, NUWC Newport maintains major detachments in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Andros Island in the Bahamas, as well as test facilities at Seneca Lake and Fisher's Island, New York, Leesburg, Florida, and Dodge Pond, Connecticut.

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