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CBS junior high school’s Raven KASTER miniboat lands in Portugal

By Mark Squibb

An unmanned miniboat that made waves when it landed in Ireland after over 100 days at sea back in 2019 has completed yet another successful journey at sea.
The Raven KASTER miniboat, the brainchild of Frank Roberts Grade 8 students Kaitlyn Grandy, Eric Browne, and Stephanie Evans, was launched off the Grand Banks in November of 2018, and was recovered in Ireland on February 19, 2019, after 102 days at sea. The voyage caught the attention of local media both in Canada and in Ireland, as well as that of Eamonn McKee, Ambassador of Ireland to Canada, who visited Conception Bay South and met with Kaitlyn and Stephanie at a luncheon hosted by the Town of CBS in May, 2022. Kaitlyn and Stephanie, along with former Frank Roberts technology teacher Thomas Sheppard and other members of the project, visited Ireland in August last year.

On April 24 of this year, the Raven KASTER was launched again, this time from the coast of Ireland with new solar powered GPS tracking and sensor technology, and, after 69 days at sea, landed in Portugal on July 2, having traveled a distance of 1,509 kilometres.

Sheppard, who has helped guide the project from day one, said news of the landing was thrilling.

“It was like reliving February 2019, when it first landed in Ireland,” said Sheppard. “But as we’ve gone along on this project, we’ve met so many people, and so many people have gotten excited about it.”

Now that the KASTER has landed again, the next step will be to connect Frank Roberts students with students in Portugal, as was done when the miniboat landed in Ireland.

Sheppard said that Frank Roberts Junior High is interested in hooking up with other schools, particularly in Conception Bay South, that may want to connect with the school in Portugal.

“It’s been a wonderful, wonderful experience, and it’s opened up a lot of pathways for students here,” said Sheppard, who allowed no one could have guessed the impact the project would have when it was launched back in 2018. “I really think projects like this are incredibly important from an educational standpoint. I’m a retired technology teacher, and I think this project has got to be one of the most exciting projects I’ve undertaken. I did Lego Robotics, underwater ROV programs, I’ve been involved all my career in extracurricular activities and coding, but I’ve got to say, this is the one that surprised me the most — how exciting it was, how much of a learning opportunity it was, how much the students connected with the local ocean industry, and the ocean industry in Ireland.”

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