Westporters Score at Underwater Vehicle Competition

Four Westport students won four awards over the weekend in a competition involving their underwater remotely operated vehicle, known as a ROV. The, team, called Curiodyssea, competed in the Ranger Division of the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) New England Regionals in Sandwich, Mass. They are the first Westporters to compete in the competition, which challenges students from all over the world to design and build ROVs to tackle simulated missions under water such as capping oil wells and measuring ice thickness. The Westporters won second place overall, first technical report, first poster display, and rookie of the year. Pictured with their ROV (left) are Nicholas Durkin, 15, (Staples High School freshman) Nathan Wang, 14, (Coleytown Middle School eighth grader), John McNab, 15, and Daniel Westphal, 14 (both Staples freshmen.) Curiodyssea received support from the Westport Library, Staples High School, and the Norwalk Maritime Aquarium. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo