Hackley School
This year, nearly 90 teams from more than 20 countries competed across three divisions of the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) World Championship. Hackley’s ROV Engineering team competed in the Ranger division. Through a bit of serendipity, the Hornets were partnered with Purdue Engineering for one part of the competition, which meant a reunion with Hackley alum Sam Nadol, who continues competing in MATE with Purdue, along with other partner teams from around the world. He’s been competing in MATE since it was “Aquabots,” a Hackley Middle School club, and he was just a fifth grader!
Hackley scored 23rd out of the 40 teams present but, as Zara Nnamdi ’29 notes, “To anyone unfamiliar with the competition, this number may be the one they feel holds the most significance; however, that is not the case. In only one year on the team, I have learned that there is so much more to this competition beyond trying to win it all.”
“To be able to go to Worlds was an incredible experience,” Zara continues. “Seeing all the facilities the Marine Institute allowed us to use during the competition — from the 20-feet-deep tank where we operated our float, to a flume tank where we controlled our ROV, fitted with a room adjacent to the tank where we could actually see the ROV in the water — helped me experience the true scope of the world of marine science. Not only were we able to play a simulation of piloting an ROV in the ocean, but we were even able to put our own ROV into the ocean, equipped with a sonar even. I truly got to have an amazing time there, and the engineering aspect was only a part of the reason why.”
“One other equally important piece of the trip comes from all the soft skills I learned,” Zara notes. “I can confidently say that because of this trip and this class, I am a better presenter, I am better at working with other people, I am better at learning from my mistakes and handling failure, and I am better at learning from others to be able to improve. Situations like giving an engineering presentation, creating pamphlets and business cards for our poster, and collaborating with both my teammates and people from other teams have taught me more than I could have ever imagined.”
“Finally, the last important part of the trip I want to mention is the memories I made just by going. Despite the fact that I am more of an introverted person by nature, I found that on the trip, I naturally grew closer to all of my teammates, not just my friends who also went. Beyond just my team, I also found myself interacting and making friends with people from other teams as well. I got to talk to people from all around the world and form genuine bonds with them, despite not having that shared commonality of being from similar places. In fact, I believe that that difference is what brought us together, as everyone there was more than open to meeting new people from different regions.”
“I got so much more from this class than simply a ranking where our team placed,” Zara concludes. “I got to feel success, failure and connection; learn from mistakes and lessons; and explore a career path that has so much to offer. Ultimately, this class provided me with so much, and I couldn’t be happier that I was able to join, as well as proud of my team for how we did.”
According to the team’s advisor and Director of the Middle School Melissa Boviero, “the true success of ROV isn’t measured by its rankings, but by the growth that happens through the experience,” something evident in Zara’s reflection and in the experience of the team at this competition and throughout the year leading up to it.
