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Much like the rest of the world, life at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division (NSWCPD) looks a little different this summer than it typically does.
Buildings and streets on the Navy Yard are quiet.
The typical morning commute has gone from a 45-minute train ride or drive to a 30-second walk from the bedroom to the dining room.
And NSWCPD’s annual Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) camps and internships hosted at the Navy Yard in Philadelphia have moved from onsite to virtual.
Two of the biggest STEM programs that take place every summer are the Naval Research Enterprise Internship Program (NREIP) and the Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (SEAP). These are the Department of Navy’s college (NREIP) and high school (SEAP) internship programs that work to provide students with laboratory research and technology experience.
This year both had to be reimagined to move everything to a virtual experience. At first the programs were cancelled due to the social restrictions which led many of the original interns to find different opportunities. But, knowing there were still students who wanted this experience a creative approach was taken.
“We had a core collection of the workforce who wanted to make opportunities for these students and a very positive, albeit concerned, collection of interns who wanted an opportunity to intern with the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division (NSWCPD). This led us to a complete overhaul of the internship program,” said Tristan Wolfe, NSWCPD’s STEM Outreach Program Manager.
Typically, each student is individually paired with a mentor in a specific department who guides them through the internship. However, this year students and mentors were placed in 13 teams to work on six different projects (one project has three teams working on it).
One of the six projects being worked on is a hydroculture program, which has been in the works since last year and has become a central project in this year’s internship program due to how close the issue hits home. Food insecurity impacts 21 percent of Philadelphians and 10 percent of children in the city. Those impacted are often concentrated in the same geographical areas in which NSWCPD concentrates its STEM engagement. According to Wolfe, “Many students rely on the two meals a day given in school, and COVID-19 has only increased the need for something like this with food insecurity growing across the country.”
A team of college interns in the NREIP program has been tasked with designing a hydroculture system that can be implemented in a classroom or community center that is pressed for space. Interns are being asked to design a system that incorporates thermal, fluid, electrical, and control systems that can ideally be put into the field at the end of the summer.
Along with these projects, such as the one involving the hydroculture system, NREIP and SEAP are offering a collection of career, organizational, technical, and programmatic virtual presentations on a variety of topics.
While the virtual format has certainly had its challenges, there are also benefits to the new way of communicating.
“I am learning some things on my own, but I am also learning a lot from my mentors and other members of my project group. I think that one benefit of being virtual is that I can not only easily contact whoever I need to talk to, but when we are done talking, there is a message log I can look back to later,” said Michaela Feehery, a current sophomore at Villanova University and NREIP intern.
Unfortunately, however, once these two internships moved to a digital environment there were some SEAP awardees no longer qualified to take part in the virtual program per changing requirements from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) who manages both. As a result, a brand new, unpaid internship called the Virtual Summer Naval Apprenticeship Program (VSNAP) has been created and made available to interns under the age of 18.
Along with these three internship programs, NSWCPD offers three different summer camps for middle school and high school-aged participants.
The Greater Philadelphia STEM Center (SeaPerch Science Camp) and STEM-Up camps are two of the camps that are co-run by NSWCPD and Temple University. These programs are focused on high school and college preparation with an emphasis on STEM education with a Navy influence. Recruiting and marketing for the camps are run by Temple University while NSWCPD’s African American Employee Resource Group (AAERG) leads the command’s involvement in the programs.
The third camp offering is the Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania STEM summer camp. This two-week week program is provided to middle school students and is put together with help from the Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson University, and NSWCPD along with NSWCPD’s Women’s Employee Resource Group (WERG).
“All of our summer camps target demographics typically underrepresented in STEM fields and provide students with a unique opportunity to receive a quality STEM education and learn more about how the mission of NSWCPD ties to key concepts in STEM education,” said Wolfe.
Just like the NREIP and SEAP programs, all three of these camps are being run completely virtually. In-person, virtual, and a combination of the two were considered with all virtual eventually being decided as the safest option.
Predictably, there have been some bumps in the road in the transition to virtual camps from the in-person versions conducted previously. Mentors and instructors have had to get creative in dealing with various challenges, especially with the middle school camps. One of the biggest issues has been maintaining the focus of the campers over video chat and ensuring all rules are being followed. Instructors have been able to use the technology to their advantage when dealing with these issues, such as putting campers in a “time out” in the waiting room of online platform calls and having private text chats to reinforce the rules and expectations.
When asked about the importance of these summer programs Wolfe said, “Making sure there continue to be opportunities for students throughout the summer is always important, but this year even more so.”
“Many of our program participants come from the School District of Philadelphia, which stopped curriculum for about a month as they implemented a plan to get students access to computers and network capabilities,” Wolfe continued “This represents a significant gap in education during what can be a critical time. Our programs concentrate on bridging gaps between middle school and high school, as well as high school and college. Our camps provide resources such as laptops to students so they can participate and bridge those gaps.”
NSWCPD employs approximately 2,700 civilian engineers, scientists, technicians, and support personnel doing research and development, test and evaluation, acquisition support, and in-service logistics engineering for Navy ships. NSWCPD is also the lead organization providing cybersecurity for all ship systems.
| Date Taken: | 07.21.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 07.24.2020 14:32 |
| Story ID: | 374366 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 377 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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