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PV High robotics team wins 2025 MATE ROV World Championship; board praises STEM program
Summary
Palisades/PV High’s Pivot ROV team won first place in the Ranger class at the 2025 MATE ROV World Championship. Students and teacher Jennifer Kim described building and programming an ROV and supporting sensing devices; the district and local foundations funded travel and equipment.
Palis Verdes Peninsula Unified School District students from Palisades (PV) High’s Pivot ROV team celebrated a first-place finish in the Ranger class at the 2025 MATE ROV World Championship in Alpena, Michigan.
Dr. Trista Ramirez introduced the team and Jennifer Kim, the Pivot teacher, who said the group designed and fabricated its ROV and auxiliary devices in-house using district-provided software such as Autodesk Fusion and Inventor. “All of our ROV’s design was done and fabricated in-house using software generously provided by the school district,” Kim said. She described a tethered remotely operated vehicle, a vertical profiling float that relays environmental data, and a 365-degree photosphere imaging device developed by students.
The team’s victory marked the program’s 10th world-competition qualification in 14 years and its first world championship. Students and board members emphasized the program’s educational value: members learn soldering, 3D CAD design, 3D printing, power-tool safety and programming, and they practice teamwork and presentation skills used during competition.
Board members and the audience praised the program’s donors and mentors. Kim and student speakers thanked the Peninsula Education Foundation and the school booster club for travel support and named long-time mentors who helped sustain the program. The board’s recognition noted local philanthropic support and district-provided software and fabrication resources that enabled the team’s success.
The district’s school board highlighted this as an example of Measure- and community-supported STEM programming; no board action was required. The students said they welcome questions about their craft and invited community members to view the ROV and associated devices at future events.
