Courtesy Photo | Lenox Memorial Middle and High School students pose together with their robot at the...... read more read more
Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) is playing a pivotal role in inspiring the next generation of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals. Extracurricular STEM activities are not always present or available in schools across the United States; however, SSP has taken another step forward in supporting creative engineering design challenges in its local communities.
Through its STEM outreach and engagement efforts at Project Management Office (PMO) Shipboard Systems Pittsfield in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, SSP has been able to reach local schools like Lenox Memorial Middle and High School (LMMHS) to support their participation in robotic competitions. The Navy command, which provides full life-cycle support to the sea-based leg of the U.S. nuclear triad, is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has field activities and program offices across the U.S.
Christa Ames, a chief engineer at PMO Shipboard Systems, volunteers for the command’s STEM Outreach Program and recently supported LMMHS’ participation in the prestigious For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Tech Challenge on March 1, 2025, in Northbridge, Massachusetts. FIRST is a global nonprofit organization that aims to prepare K-12 students for the future through team-based robotics programs.
“Our relationship with the school started a year ago with a request to fund Lego build kits,” Ames said. “We are in constant communication with local educators and in this instance we were able to deliver the Lego materials to the teacher’s classroom and enable students to do more hands-on building activities. When we reached out again this year to see how we could support their classroom, a teacher mentioned the school’s robotics team needed help with acquiring a second chassis – a load-bearing framework that connects vehicle components.”
Although Ames did not provide assembly support, her advocacy to acquire equipment for the team empowered students at LMMHS to continue their participation in designing, building, and programming their robot without a hitch.
Every year, local qualifiers for the FIRST Tech Challenge are held, but due to severe snow storms in the North East this winter, those qualifiers were canceled. As a result, a total of 27 teams qualified for this year’s competition.
“The kids were super enthusiastic,” Ames said. “It was a fun event to watch and cheer. Going to these competitions and seeing how into it these kids are is really wonderful. It’s eye-opening to see just how advanced some of their designs are – and the students did a fantastic job.”
At the competition, teams were paired and placed in alliance-formatted contests. Each allied team was judged in three categories including an autonomy challenge, transport challenge, and a weight and stability challenge. In the end, LMMHS finished eighth in the competition, managing to complete two of the three requirements and winning the design award.
According to Dr. Gregory Bouton, the Talent Pipeline Program Manager and STEM Federal Action Officer at SSP, STEM competitions like the FIRST Tech Challenge prepare students for future technical careers.
“Robotic programs such as those offered by FIRST Robotics are excellent foundations for working in a professional STEM environment,” he said. “While STEM education helps students develop the knowledge, skills, and abilities to tackle the engineering design process, students also have the opportunity to learn and execute program management skills and other business administration skills. Those roles and responsibilities are some of the core pillars that are necessary for professional STEM organizations – like SSP – to realize the vision they have set out in front of them.”
Bouton hopes early exposure to STEM competitions will encourage middle and high school students to consider a STEM career as they approach college, and potentially lead them to employment supporting the U.S. Navy.
“At SSP, we seek to increase interest in STEM education and expand the scale of our talent pipeline,” Bouton said. “We want to consider these students for internship opportunities after they enter undergraduate education and expose them to real-world problem-solving.”
SSP is responsible for sustaining strategic weapon system (SWS) on the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) and supporting the integration of the D5LE weapon system on the new Columbia-class SSBNs. The command is integral to nuclear triad modernization with development of the D5LE2 SWS and creating the regional strike capabilities with the development of the nuclear sea launched cruise missile and the non-nuclear hypersonic conventional prompt strike system. The command’s senior leaders have strongly expressed the value in early STEM exposure, voicing that the next-generation of STEM professionals will be the ones continuing SSP’s no-fail mission.
To learn more about SSP’s STEM program, visit https://www.ssp.navy.mil/STEM/. For additional STEM classroom activities and resources, click on the following:
Classroom activities that focus on submarines - https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn/education/additional-activities/submarines.html
Navy History and Heritage Command - fleet ballistic missile submarines page
https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/cold-war/strategic-deterrence/fleet-ballistic-missiles-submarines.html
Navy History and Heritage Command - strategic deterrence page
https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/cold-war/strategic-deterrence.html
SSP Videos
https://www.ssp.navy.mil/News-Media/Video-Library/.
| Date Taken: | 03.12.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.12.2025 12:24 |
| Story ID: | 492620 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 43 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Strategic Systems Programs Supports Lenox Memorial Middle and High School in Local STEM Competition, by Edvin Hernandez, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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