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The Apprentice School Student Section of SNAME is unique in that we are not a traditional four year college.  We are backed by our parent company - Newport News Shipbuilding - and each and every student member is also a full time shipbuilder.  Our focus is to help inspire future generations of shipbuilders through our unique position.

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2024 Boat Design Competition

Fighting bad weather for the first time since we've held the competition, on May 18, 2024, The Apprentice School Student Section of SNAME hosted their 14th annual SNAME Boat Design Competition.  This year's competition scenario was themed to Pokémon and challenged teams across Virginia to design a passenger vessel.  The winning team was The Mighty Pirates from Alexandria City High School.

 

See the archive section for past events.

Upcoming Events

No events have been scheduled for the upcoming months.

Join Our Club

If you are a current apprentice, all you have to do is attend two meetings to become a member!  If you see a scheduled event that you'd like to attend, just show up!

Officers

Chair

Taylor Forrester

Vice-Chair

Jessica Vehorn

Secretary

Laneisha McBride

Treasurer

Ngoc Nam Tran

Communications

Giovanni Parrish

Boat Design Competition

Each year our student section hosts a boat design competition for high school students.  The students submit their designs to us and the top four designs are then constructed by Newport News Shipbuilding apprentices.  The boats then compete in several events at our annual race day.

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The Apprentice School

The Apprentice School was founded not much longer after the shipyard itself - in 1919 - and is one of the top apprentice programs in the nation.  The school provides an opportunity for prospective students to learn a skilled trade while going to school simultaneously; rotating frequently between work locations to learn about the process of building the most complex ships in the world.

Apprentices have the ability to continue into advanced track programs where they are able to continue the work and school schedule towards degrees in relevant shipbuilding majors.

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Newport News Shipbuilding

Newport News Shipbuilding of HII has existed in one shape or another since 1886.  Currently the only shipyard with the capability to build, overhaul, and fuel United States Navy aircraft carriers and one of two shipyards to build United States Navy submarines.

The facility encompasses over 550 acres with a linear distance from end-to-end of over two miles and contains some of the largest cranes in the western hemisphere used to build the most complex ships in the world.

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