The free event, which has been held nearly every year since 2016, allows 5th graders from Virginia Beach City and Chesapeake Public Schools to receive an exclusive sneak peek of the Air Show performances, including the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels and the F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team; vendor booths and activities; and numerous STEM Laboratory exhibits. This year’s theme is “Inspire. Educate. Soar!”

NAVFAC volunteers staffed engineering-themed tables to encourage the participating students to take part in the command’s annual Penny Boat Challenge.

“The students get a sheet of aluminum foil, and they design a boat to see how many pennies it can hold before it sinks,” said Taylor Priest, a Civil Engineer for NAVFAC LANT and STEM Coordinator. “We talk to the students about weight distribution, boat shapes and design, and buoyancy, among other things.”

This challenge not only leads the students to think about the basic shape and design of the boat so it can float on water, but strategy and skill also come into play when they start adding the weight of the pennies.

“The idea of showing these skills to a younger generation is fascinating to me … I have kids who were into STEM and became engineers, so I want to continue to help push and promote STEM for other children,” said Robert Brown, a Project Manager for NAVFAC MIDLANT, and a first-time STEM Lab volunteer. “NAVFAC is connected to all of this, so it gives us an opportunity – as volunteers – to explain and show off what we do at NAVFAC, and hopefully encourage these students to one day become better NAVFAC engineers.”

As a hands-on learning activity, the Penny Boat Challenge generates significant crowds as the students show off their talent and patience throughout the day.

“The students get really competitive as they watch each other build different boats,” Priest explained. “When they work side-by-side in the engagement stations, they start to see who gets more pennies, and then they want to do it again, and again to get better results. We also have an ongoing high score board that displays the highest number [of pennies floated] to keep the competition and creativity flowing.”

According to the National Center for Science and Engineering website, about a quarter of the current U.S. workforce is employed in STEM occupations. Events such as these not only help to plant a seed for students to seek out future STEM careers, but specifically, it plays a role in promoting STEM opportunities for women, persons of color, and persons with disabilities who have historically been underrepresented in U.S.-based science and engineering fields.

“We love promoting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics activities, such as this, to allow children to ask questions about future engineering professions and get them interested in engineering,” said Melissa Dyson, Supervisory Project Manager for NAVFAC MIDLANT and STEM Coordinator. “Many of these students incorporate engineering into their daily routines and they don’t even realize it, so this event allows us to help them identify those skills and show them it can be fun. The STEM fields are growing exponentially, so there’s tons of opportunities – and there will be even more within the next 10 years – and NAVFAC is on the forefront.”

While most of the attending students are a part of Generation Alpha – who were born at a time when technological devices are getting smarter, and everything is connected digitally – they also demonstrate exceptional skill with non-digital, hands-on learning activities.

“The students use different parts of their brains … some learn visually, some learn by auditory, and others learn through physical activities, so this activity combines a lot of that together when our volunteers coach them and talk to them about the different elements involved,” said Priest. “It completely syncs for them, and I’ve seen students who take these basic skills home to show their parents and teachers so they can recreate the activities again at home or school.”

The NAS Oceana Air Show is an annual opportunity for the U.S. Navy to give back to our military families and the local Hampton Roads community. Each year, the base welcomes visitors from across the country and around the world to the Navy’s East Coast Master Jet Base to experience the wonder of flight firsthand and meet the exceptional men and women of naval aviation.

NAVFAC’s STEM team of volunteers will represent the command again on October 17-18 for Naval Station Norfolk’s STEM Days in Norfolk, Virginia, which will be held in conjunction with the installation’s annual Fleet Fest, scheduled on Oct. 19.

NAVFAC MIDLANT provides facilities engineering, public works and environmental products and services across an area of responsibility that spans from South Carolina to Maine, as far west as Illinois, and down to Indiana. As an integral member of the Commander, Navy Region Mid-Atlantic team, NAVFAC MIDLANT provides leadership through the Regional Engineer organization to ensure the region’s facilities and infrastructure are managed efficiently and effectively.