Lauralton Hall

Lauralton has many signature programs, those that are unique to our School.  Our participation as the only all-girls team in the Sikorsky STEM Challenge is one of those programs under the wing of our dedicated math and science faculty members and engineering team advisors, Theresa Napolitano and Danielle Kratter. 

The competition provides the opportunity for high school students to partner with an engineering mentor from Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company.  The LH team dubbed the "Wright Sisters," has been privileged to have two fantastic mentors over the last several years - Lauralton alumna Ashley Currivan '10 and Meghan Moscarelli. The challenge is to solve a real-world engineering design problem by applying the lessons in the classroom. Over the course of the academic year, the team must develop project plans, present them to Sikorsky engineers, and meet objectives for submitting reports and videos.

In a news segment that aired June 3, 2019, NBC Connecticut 30 News Anchor Kevin Nathan called Lauralton's track record of wins a "STEM dynasty." Read more about  Lauralton's winning 2019 design and about Lauralton's track record since 2016 of participation in the Sikorsky STEM Challenge. 

 While the Sikorsky STEM Challenge was on hold in the spring of 2020 due to the  COVID-19 pandemic, our team resumed activities in Fall 2020 and went on to win the 2021 event.  The team produced a video modeled after a "TED" talk to present their design for a remotely operated helitanker that intakes and disperses water to fight fires.  Students also created this presentation about developing the prototype of the next-gen helitanker. 

For the 2022-2023 STEM Challenge, students were asked to design a lightweight, semi-autonomous cargo transport system with color recognition abilities that would assimilate into the Sikorsky Skyhawk model.  The system when activated will drive the Skyhawk rig to the identified colored building top, engage the hoist motor to retrieve the payload with the magnetic hook, and then return the Skyhawk rig to the starting location. 

The Lauralton Hall design utilized ergonomic buttons for activation and a 3-pulley system to reduce the strain on the hoist motor. Using an Arduino Uno, they programmed a color sensor to detect the correct rooftops and programmed the movements of the hoist and Skyhawk motors. Much of the mechanical design was created on CAD software and 3D printed at Lauralton Hall; this provided the foundational anchoring of the sensor, hardware, and electrical components of the system. Mrs. Theresa Napolitano shared: “The students were insatiable in learning the various facets needed to solve each of these challenges along the way to best represent the idea and bring the working prototype to life.  The ability of the students in different grade levels to mix ideas from their different perspectives ensures a deeper understanding of concepts.”

On Friday, April 28 the presenting team of Grace Polatsek '23, Amirah Easter '25, Ananya Soleti '23, Margo Katz '23, Emma Hoffman '24, Michaela Day '24, and Julia Fitzgerald '24 traveled to the University of New Haven (UNH) to deliver a ten-minute PowerPoint presentation of the project development to a panel of Sikorsky Engineers, followed by a Q&A segment. Afterward, students made their way to the Engineering Lab of UNH where the Skyhawk driver was housed.  The team’s design was tested, and points were assessed based on the effectiveness of the design.

In addition to winning the 1^st place honors, the team has been invited to present at the Sikorsky Family Day in October 2023.