MOUNT VERNON, Ind. (AP) — “Steering is tricky, Mr. Koch,” West Elementary School fifth-grader Jasmyne Emerson told her science teacher Tuesday afternoon while practicing with her team’s underwater robot in Mount Vernon Junior High School’s natatorium.

Emerson, 11, is one of about 230 students who will be participating in the University of Southern Indiana’s underwater robotics competition at 8 a.m. Saturday at the Mount Vernon school. The Southwest Indiana STEM Resource Center (SwISTEM) at USI is hosting the third annual SeaPerch Challenge. Sixty-four teams of students in grades 3-12 in southern Indiana schools are participating in the regional competition. Attendance at the event is free and open to the public.