Grant Spotlight – Robotics Club
GRANT TITLE
Robotics Club
GRANT AUTHOR, SCHOOL, IMPACT & FUNDING
Charles Seligman – Merrillville High School – 30 Grade 9-12 students – $1,000.00
GRANT PERIOD
Round 30 for Spring 2017; implemented in Fall 2017
GRANT APPLICATION
As the sponsor of the new Robotics club we are looking to expand our group to two teams for competition next year. These students will be exposed to a CAD program donated to all FIRST teams to develop their robot virtually before they start building one. This program gives our students a chance to work with real objects trying to solve real problems. It is one of the best STEM programs our students can participate in here at Merrillville High School. Each robot costs approximately $1,365. This price includes the phones, the controls, all the electronics needed to have the robot perform as directed, and the basic building kit to build the skeleton of the robot that holds all of the above and operates on the game field. Each year the “game” consists of five or six tasks the robot must perform in order to score points.
GRANT OUTCOMES
This year has started off very well for our team. We held a kickoff with the Hobart team here at the high school with about 70 people attending the event. The game for the year was officially released at that time.
In November we attended our first scrimmage of the year in St. John hosted by a local Christian school. We placed first in that event. In December we hosted another scrimmage here at the high school. Six teams and about fifty people gathered in our main cafeteria, and we finished second in this scrimmage.
Our first competition will be Jan. 6th in Crawfordsville, IN. Both teams are going to attend this event but only the varsity team will compete. We are thankful to the Merrillville Education Foundation for all they have done for us over the last few years in helping the Robotics Club get started and grow.
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