Navantia Australia‘s Smart Sustainment Manager, Dr Alberto Gonzalez Cantos, Engineering Support Manager, David Rueda Roca and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Cindy Slaven, contributed for the first time as judges assessing the students’ engineering, enterprise and marketing components of the program.
It was a fun day for all involved and especially encouraging to see the number of all girl and mixed gender teams competing in the finals.
SUBS in Schools is an immersive competition designed to stimulate an interest by high school students in maths, science, technology and engineering. Students design either a Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle (ROV) or a submarine which they must operate and present these together with developing a team brand and exhibition booth. Through participating in the program, students develop a wide range of skills from design, engineering and manufacturing to the ‘soft skills’, ‘enterprise skills’ and ‘employability skills’ sought after by industry (project management, teamwork, collaboration, problem solving, communication) with the added the complexities of underwater design, coding and electronics.
With the Australian Government’s investment in Defence projects and vision for a National Naval Shipbuilding and Sustainment Enterprise, never has it been more important for Australian students to be inspired by where a career in STEM could take them. Offering relevant and exciting careers in Australia’s naval defence industry is what drives us.