In filmmaker Shane Vermooten’s spirited documentary, a group of junior high and high school kids enter the international XPRIZE Global Ocean Mapping Challenge competition to map the ocean floor. The team from Valley Christian Schools in California, along with their teacher and guide, know they can’t possibly win, but that isn’t the point. Their goal is create a plan to meet a discipline-crossing STEM challenge, apply themselves to making it work, and learn from the experience, come what may. The boys and girls are a delightfully nerdy bunch who willingly lose sleep when things get tight (including a middle-of-the-night plumbing crisis at a hotel where the team stays). And the kids ride an emotional roller coaster as their project (mastering a finicky "autonomous underwater vehicle" meant to capture images of the sea floor) hits high and low moments. In the end, the team does far better in the competition than one might have expected, but the real victory lies in knowing that these 13-to-16-year-old students now have a greater measure of confidence and pride from achieving something hard. An inspiring true story, this is recommended. Aud: J, H, P. (T. Keogh)
Ocean Quest: A Race to Map the Ocean Floor
(2019) 49 min. DVD: $19.99. DRA. Vision Video (avail. from most distributors). Volume 34, Issue 5
Ocean Quest: A Race to Map the Ocean Floor
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