Jack Flanagan '21 Chosen for US Navy Arctic Buoy STEM Program
After a very competitive application process, Archmere junior Jack Flanagan has been chosen by the United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps to be part of their inaugural cadet training program, Arctic Buoy. This STEM based training includes the opportunity for chosen cadets to learn about and build research buoys. The Arctic Buoy STEM Program involves designing, developing, and readying the buoy for deployment to the Arctic Circle.
The buoys, which will sit on an ice sheet, will then transmit data on ocean currents, climate patterns, ice drift, and more. This information will then be transmitted to the ABSP and its partners at the Office of Naval Research, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), East Carolina University, the University of Maryland, the University of Washington, and Old Dominion University.
Jack will remain part of the Arctic Buoy team for the next 12 months to review, analyze, and react to data acquired by the deployed buoy. In addition, Jack was one of two cadets from this group selected to travel to the Arctic Circle in April to deploy the buoys.
Jack writes of this opportunity:
The US Naval Sea Cadets Arctic Buoy STEM Program was started this year and I, along with 21 other cadets have had the honor to be “plank owners” of this program. We started training for this program in February, meeting at our National Headquarters on February 1st and 22nd. At these meetings, we learned about and experimented with the Arduino UNO circuit system that will be used on our buoys. At the conclusion of the second meeting, the officers in charge debated about and selected two cadets to represent the inaugural group of cadets in the Arctic. Myself and one other cadet were given the honor to travel to the Arctic Circle from April 5th to the 11th. When we are stationed in Barrow, Alaska, myself and the other cadet will deploy the buoys and study their progress for a few days before the group as a whole follows the buoys’ path and collects the data that the buoys transmit. We will follow them for a year and hopefully make valuable insights into the most ever changing place on Earth.
Archmere Academy is a private, Catholic, college preparatory co-educational academy,
grades 9-12 founded in 1932 by the Norbertine Fathers.
grades 9-12 founded in 1932 by the Norbertine Fathers.
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