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Underwater robot camp is designed specifically for girls

Over three days, the campers are taught basic electronics, soldering and how to pilot the drone.

TAMPA, Fla. — Forty-two Hillsborough County girls have been exploring the waters of Tampa Bay with underwater robots. 

They spent their Presidents Day weekend building remote-operated vehicles, with Mission: Tampa Bay. Now in its fourth year, the program is working to get young women interested in STEM careers.

"This allows girls at a young age, (to) realize that it’s not a scary field," said Tristan Ware, with the Florida Aquarium. "It introduces them to a concept that they normally wouldn’t get."

Over three days, the campers are taught basic electronics, soldering and how to pilot the drone.

Testing is done both in the Florida Aquarium, as well as in Tampa Bay.

Comfort Anyanwu, is a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School. She attended the very first Mission: Tampa Bay as a camper four years ago, and she’s returned every year since as a mentor.

"I think coming into a program that is encouraging you to explore and make mistakes and solve those mistakes and also pioneer into things that usually aren’t pioneered into, that definitely raised my confidence as a woman but also as an engineer and as a scientist," said Anyawu.

The girls underwater robot camp was started by submarine pilot Erika Bergman.

'It's a pretty amazing feeling to see these girls grow up into these rolls and then want to carry them forward," said Bergman who admits she started the camp in hopes of recruiting more females to become submariner pilots. "It seemed like the right thing to do, if I wanted girls to grow up and join the hiring pool, and become submarine pilots, I should probably teach them how to build miniature submarines."

While the camp sparks interest in submarines, it also exposes the girls to a different form of science and engineering.

When Bergman isn't piloting submarines, she hosts her camps all over the world.

Mission: Tampa Bay is a collaboration between National Geographic, Hillsborough County Public Schools, The Florida Aquarium, the Museum of Science & Industry, Million Women Mentors and Tampa Bay TechStart.

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