Stop by the Hamilton Middle School swimming pool in North Houston and you'll find six young, innovative minds hard at work. "I love science," said 6th grader Brianna Berumen. They are, perhaps, the future engineers, scientists and great thinkers of our country. "We have our robot ready and we're ready to dominate," said 6th grader Perla Mendoza.

From scratch, the team of all girls built an underwater ROV, or remotely operated vehicle to compete in the U.S. Navy's SeaPerch Challenge this weekend in Pearland against about 400 students from the region. "Last year I built a robot that would topple stuff over, now we built a robot that can go through and under stuff underwater," said Mendoza.

The competition, hosted by the Navy City Outreach Office in collaboration with Houston CSTEM organization, engages students to enter the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. Less and less American students are entering the fields compared to the rest of the world. Only 6% of high school seniors will get a bachelor's degree in a STEM field. "We want to spark that interest and create something at an earlier age that will hopefully carry on into a career," said Michele Law, Hamilton 6th grade science teacher.

The SeaPerch Challenge will be held Saturday, February 15 at the Pearland Recreation Center beginning at 9am.