In 2004, a Phoenix high school boasting the lowest standardized test scores in Arizona raised eyebrows when four of its students beat out some of the nation’s most prestigious technological universities in an underwater robotics competition. At the team’s helm was educator Fredi Lajvardi, who today is a nationally recognized science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) advocate.

At the Opening General Session for WEFTEC^® 2017, Lajvardi delivered the keynote presentation on the importance of passing on experience to the next generation, thinking outside the status quo to solve problems, and his students’ story. This story so far has inspired one book and two films.

“The fact that the story keeps enduring and beating the odds is a testament to how powerful it is,” Lajvardi said to the standing-room-only audience in the grand ballroom of Chicago’s McCormick Place Convention Center.

The power of mentorship

A self-described “facilitator,” Lajvardi said that the goal of entering the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) underwater robotics competition in 2004 was never to win, but instead to “interrogate” other teams and judges, learning as much as possible about design and engineering.

“If we want to learn a lot, we have to fail a lot,” Lajvardi said. “The idea of outdoing anyone on the technical level wasn’t even in the farthest reaches of our minds.”

Although the team’s robot may not have been the sleekest or the most sophisticated — loose wires hung from its sides and its circuits were lined with tampons to keep them dry —Lajvardi’s team earned the grand prize. The high school students even beat the team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge). They also received special awards for ingenuity and design elegance.

Lajvardi found an unexpected strength in the demographics of the team, which included four first-generation Americans from backgrounds of poverty.

“Only when you include the diversity of the people you work with will you be able to solve all the problems you’re going to face,” Lajvardi said. “We found that out on our team.”

“We had special-ed students on our team who have come up with ideas that, on the face of it, sounded ridiculous at first. But then, when the team had a chance to absorb some of the concept behind the idea that was blurted out, it contributed to our team’s ability to find solutions to overcome those obstacles. You never know where the next great idea is going to come from.”

Lajvardi continues to lead teams from Carl Hayden High School (Phoenix, Ariz.) in design and engineering competitions, broadening his students’ horizons, introducing the next generation to the STEM world, and teaching one-of-a-kind lessons.

As the keynote speaker for WEFTEC 2017’s Opening General Session, educator and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) advocate Fredi Lajvardi prompted a standing-room-only audience to consider their roles as mentors to the next generation of water professionals. In doing so, he drew on his experience mentoring first-generation-American high-schoolers to victory in a college-level underwater robotics competition. Oscar & Associates