During the Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, April 26, children of Naval Surface Warfare Center Philadelphia Division (NSWCPD) employees had the opportunity to interact with some cool technology and products, and even sample some liquid nitrogen ice cream.

The event offered parents a chance to show their children what they do at work, while also offering the parents an opportunity to learn more about other technical work performed across the division. Nearly 200 children participated in the nationally recognized day, held on the fourth Thursday of April every year.

NSWCPD's Commanding Officer Captain Francis E. Spencer III opened the event by welcoming the children and answering any questions they had about the Navy. He also gave the children some words of advice.

"Work hard and keep your options open," Spencer told the overflowing auditorium full of employees and their children.

Children were assigned one of four tracts to tour NSWCPD facilities. Each of these tracks consisted of five stations, ranging from 3-D printing and scanning technology, to actual ship navigation and steering consoles.

Latoya Deaton, Policy & Self-Assessment, found the day was not only helpful for her 10-year-old daughter, Sade, but for herself as well.

"It let me learn what the other codes do," Deaton explained. "[Sade] has been asking me what I do for years; it's good for her to see me use my brain."

Sade liked seeing where her mother works and was amazed by the Man Overboard Indicator (MOBI) program.

"We got to see how someone would go overboard in the olden days. You only had a whistle to get people to find you," Sade said recalling the presentation she saw. "Now you have different life vests."

When asked if she wants to come back next year she responded, "Yeah!" with a big headshake and a laugh. Her mother was excited that her coworkers got the chance to meet her daughter, and to give Sade a taste of what her work day is like.

Brian Xavier, PMS & ILS Feedbacks, brought his daughter Mikayla, 12, for similar reasons.

"Lately I've been trying to explain what things will be like when she grows up. I wanted to show her how a big workforce operates," Xavier said. He added with a laugh, "I wanted to show her why I'm tired when I come home."

Mikayla enjoyed seeing where her dad works, but when asked what her favorite activity was, she shyly replied, "Ice cream."

One of day's interesting tour stops included the High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) demonstration. Here, children had a chance to see NSWCPD engineers create ice cream on the spot using liquid nitrogen. Of course, after it was made, both children and their parents were able to sample this "super cool" ice cream.

"Eating the ice cream and watching the magnets," said 7-year-old Emily Doughty, were her favorites.

Aside from the ice cream, the HTS demo also showed superconductivity levitating a piece of metal, and moving it around a track.

"The lab tours were really valuable," said Emily's dad Jamer, Auxiliary Systems. "I thought it was done really well."

Everyone walked away learning something new; whether it was what their mom or dad does at work, or for employees to see what other technical departments do. Most of all, parents were able to show their children some of the cool technology at NSWC Philadelphia.

NSWCPD provides the Navy's primary technical expertise for naval machinery research and development and in-service engineering, as well as machinery cybersecurity and lifecycle engineering.

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