MONTEREY — After a two-year hiatus, Discovery Day at the Naval Postgraduate School returned with a bang – closely followed by bottle rockets flying 100 feet into the air.
“It’s an opportunity to get back to normality. Something like this was impossible for the last two years,” said Navy Captain Edward McCabe. “And it’s wonderful … I think it’s that step forward that we needed.”
The school opened its campus to more than 1,500 students, teachers and chaperones Friday to engage fifth through 12th graders with science, technology, engineering and math.
Students were able to see the campus’ labs and learn more about the Naval Postgraduate School’s mission, as well as interact with more than 40 STEM and service-related activities throughout the campus.
Along with the bottle rockets, one popular exhibit was the physics department’s liquid nitrogen cannon, where a soda bottle was filled with liquid nitrogen and exploded, propelling water and tennis balls into the air. Another crowd favorite was the unmanned surface vehicles display, where students had the chance to direct small versions of the boats across the pool.
Students also had the chance to meet current military leaders and learn about the various military branches and roles within them. The Marine Corps tent was a popular stop for those who wanted to demonstrate how many pullups they could do.
McCabe explained that Discovery Day’s mission centered around military exposure, encouraging science, technology, math and engineering and creating positive interactions between students and military members.
“For a lot of these kids, this might be their first positive interaction” with someone in uniform, McCabe explained. “It’s important to give them a view of the Navy, the Army, the Air Force, the Marine Corps with a friendly face.”
This year’s Discovery Day also included a new “Rapid Innovation Design Challenge,” where schools and students were invited to design and develop innovative solutions for ongoing naval challenges. Earlier this spring, students in grades 6-12 were tasked with solving one of four challenges: climate change, additive manufacturing, automated systems or cybersecurity.
Faculty-student teams competed in the challenge for a chance to win prizes up to $7,000, and winners were announced at a ceremony on Discovery Day.
First place overall went to a Pacific Grove High team, for their solution to the additive manufacturing challenge, which challenged students to design a 3D printed boat to deliver humanitarian aid. The boat was required to carry two people and cargo across a body of water with a designated wave swell.
Also, new this year was a presentation and chance to meet NASA astronaut and NPS alumnus, Capt. Victor Glover, one of 44 NASA astronauts who have graduated from the Naval School. Glover spoke to students about his experience on the International Space Station on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. Students lined up in the auditorium to ask him a variety of questions, including: “who inspired you?”, “what was it like being on the space station?” and “what do you do if you have to pee in space?”
“It’s great that kids want to come and listen to me talk about going to space, but when you get to see them launch bottle rockets outside, that’s all you need to see,” Glover said. “That’s really what it’s about – them going and doing something that we can also let them know later that, ‘hey that’s science, that’s math, that’s engineering.’ But they were out there having fun.”
It was clear students were having fun at the event as they rushed from one display to another, asking questions and cheering as bottle rockets launched into the sky.
For Diane Dumbacher, who teaches fourth grade at Washington Union Elementary School, Discovery Day at NPS was great way for students to have fun while getting hands-on experience with science and technology.
“We have a new science curriculum and we really wanted to get more hands-on STEM activities. That’s a great way to get them excited and interested,” she said. “The kids are so excited, many have already wanted to go into space, and this has just kind of catapulted them into learning more about it.”
Teaching students that science, technology, math and engineering can be fun and engaging was one of the key missions of Discovery Day. But many of the Naval Postgraduate School leaders and faculty members were also aware of the importance of getting students interested in STEM at a young age.
“Obviously we’ve got a responsibility to encourage STEM to young people. And you know, for some of them, this is just a field trip. I get it, you’re an 11-year-old just looking to not be in school,” McCabe said, smiling. “But there will be kids here that, after listening to (Glover), now they know they want to go to Mars. They want to be astronauts, they want to get us to where we need to be to fix the planet. And if we don’t encourage that, then what are we doing?”
Faculty research associate, Giovanni Minelli, works in the space systems academic group at NPS and was one of the faculty members in charge of the bottle rocket demo, along with some other space displays.
“STEM is a very important field for our country to encourage, particularly at an early age,” Minelli explained. “By getting them interested in it early, we’re basically telling them that studying in school is very important, working hard is very important. And then they can go on and have interesting careers and solve very challenging problems for our country and for the world.”
Glover concluded his presentation with a similar sentiment, when he told the crowd of students, “We need you to get us out of this mess that my generation has gotten us into.”
For Glover, that means teaching students to think critically and understand the power of the truth.
“Things that are important in this country – liberty, justice, freedom – those things depend on knowing the truth. Our country was designed to be run and supported by informed people,” he said. “I want these kids to know, you might have to work for it, but it’s worth the work to know the truth. I really do think their generation needs to be prepared to do better than our generation has done.”
