NUWC Keyport Division

Community Relations Events

NUWC Keyport, including its detachment and site locations in Hawaii, Southern California, and Hawthorne, Nevada, are involved in all spectrums of community relations. Annual programs such as the Pearl Harbor Remembrance Ceremony, participation in local parades, and the personal involvement of employees in outreach to local students are just a few of the ways we get involved in our local communities.

NUWC Keyport takes its role as a good neighbor seriously. Through our command and employee efforts, we want to build community trust, inspire and lead our youth to better education and employment opportunities, and inform the public of our capabilities and relevance to the Fleet.

   NUWC Keyport’s Navy Divers and civilians appreciate the opportunity to meet the community at the Silverdale Chamber of Commerce event “Military Appreciation Day,” held in the spring of each year. The 2009 event at the Kitsap Sun Pavilion, Kitsap Fairgrounds, drew 2,000 people.

   NUWC Keyport has participated in the Bremerton Armed Forces Festival since 1985, through committee support and parade entries. This event is the only DOD authorized regional Armed Forces Day event and is the nation's largest Armed Forces Day celebration.

   Other parades that we participate in include the Hawthorne Armed Forces Day Parade and the Poulsbo Viking Fest.

   NUWC Keyport appreciates the sacrifice of our veterans, and for the past 15 years has hosted an annual commemoration, “Pearl Harbor Remembrance . . .Lest We Forget.”

   
Each year, Pearl Harbor Survivors join us to share their memories of that infamous day. At the Dec. 7, 2008 ceremony, Capt. Stephen Iwanowicz, Commander of NUWC Keyport, said, “For the 2,398 killed and 1,178 wounded at Pearl Harbor, for the four out of five Sailors and Marines – 1,177 aboard USS Arizona (BB-39) who did not make it out, and for the millions of participants in that war, let us never forget their strength, their love, their courage, their commitment, their dedication, their perseverance, and their devotion to this great country.”

Educational Outreach and Partnerships

Through NUWC Keyport’s Recruitment and Outreach program, greater numbers of students in local communities are being exposed to increased Science, Technology, Engineering and Math learning opportunities. Not only do Keyport employees regularly serve as volunteers for local science fairs, and but they facilitate classroom learning through established programs in elementary, junior high, and high schools. Through NUWC Keyport Command support and many extra employee volunteer hours, students are experiencing the success of hands-on application of what they learn in the class room to projects they can test and see that work.

In the 2008-2009 school year, five high schools participated in the Remote Operating Vehicle outreach program led by NUWC Keyport and the Naval Undersea Museum Foundation. In 2005, we reached 100 students. Today, we are reaching approximately 500 students through the ROV Challenge Program. This flexible, eight-week program is offered each spring. It takes the ROV Challenge to computer aided drawing, physics, introduction to engineering, engineering design, and marine biology (including the Advanced Placement) classes and students apply their lessons to designing, building, and testing their ROV in the pool. They learn team work, troubleshooting, and project management, and often are surprised that they can do it – they can design, build and operate their own ROV!

Outreach efforts also include Sea Perch, where a similar program is taken into the junior high classrooms, and students build a ROV according to a design.

   At the elementary level, NUWC Keyport employees are working with the Hilder Pearson Elementary School, North Kitsap District, Poulsbo, to bring them lessons of simple mechanics. Employees work in the classroom in a curriculum with the students to relate the use of pulleys, friction, resistance, etc., to every day life. This is followed up by experiments in the classroom to demonstrate the topic of the day. Teachers, students and volunteers all enjoy these sessions!

   NUWC Keyport supports the inspiration and education of students of all ages through events such as Take our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, Family Day tours, and student tours requested by teachers.

   In 1987, Keyport employees chartered a Scholarship Foundation. Children of current and retired Keyport employees (military and civilian) are eligible for the scholarships.

   The E. H. Lesinski Scholarship was first awarded in 1992, and is named for Keyport's late Technical Director. Funds for the scholarships are raised through bake sales, fun runs, and other activities held at Keyport throughout the year. The Keyport Chapter of the Federal Manager's Association has also been a key contributor.