Empowering Future STEM Leaders: SWFLANT Engages Local Youth at Camden County Public Library

31 July 2024

From Ashley Berumen

KINGS BAY, Ga. - A team of volunteers from Strategic Weapons Facility, Atlantic (SWFLANT), Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics participated in Camden County Public Library’s summer learning series, June 28.

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A team of volunteers from Strategic Weapons Facility, Atlantic (SWFLANT), Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics pose for a photo at the Camden County Public Library in Kingsland, Georgia, June 28, 2024. The group hosted the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) day of the library’s summer learning series. (U.S. Navy photo by Ashley Berumen)

Rob Birke, Strategic Weapons Facility, Atlantic (SWFLANT) Security Operations Supervisor, helps a child prepare his straw missile for launch at the Camden County Public Library in Kingsland, Georgia, June 28, 2024. A team of volunteers from SWFLANT, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics hosted the event during the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) day of the library’s summer learning series. (U.S. Navy photo by Ashley Berumen)

More than thirty children attended the hour-long event and were given a first-hand look at how Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) is used in daily operations throughout SWFLANT.
Rebecca Pasquale coordinated the event with support from military, government employees and contractors.

“It’s good when the command can get together out in the community,” said Pasquale, who has been a member of SWFLANT’s STEM team for more than a year. “It’s great to see children excited about STEM and the Navy.”

The event kicked-off with a video demonstrating how ballistic-missile submarines launch TRIDENT D5 missiles underwater. The children were then given the opportunity to build their own missiles using tape, paper, straws and pre-made launchers. The STEM team prepared the activity for all ages and abilities, and assisted children with making alterations to their straw missiles to increase the straw missile’s trajectory and hit a target.

“I was worried my kids were too young to sit through it all, but Chief Garrett did a great job at keeping all of the kids engaged,” said McKenna Hall, who attended the event with her two sons. “[The Navy] is part of our community and it’s cool that they come out and show kids what they do.”

Evelyn Ashe, a SWFLANT summer intern, said events like these inspire young minds and recruit future employees.

“When I was in eighth grade, SWFLANT and Lockheed [Martin] participated in a STEM event at my middle school here in St. Marys, which allowed my classmates and me to design and launch model rockets,” said Ashe.

“Designing and developing my own model rocket and being a part of the launching process was memorable. It inspired my interest in STEM, guiding me on the path I am on today.”

Ashe is one of two SWFLANT summer interns and is currently enrolled in the engineering program at the College of Coastal Georgia. SWFLANT’s STEM Team consists of more than 40 volunteers who support local events, robotics teams and 32 schools in three surrounding counties.

SWFLANT provides strategic missiles and weapons system support to fleet ballistic missile submarines. Its mission is to safely and securely deliver the right missile, with the right payload, to the right tube, on the right submarine, for deployment of ballistic and guided missile submarines with ready and reliable weapons.

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