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The high school robotics team smiling with the start of their new robot project

The high school robotics club is back, and they’re on a mission to build a bot (and learn some cool stuff).

On any given Tuesday or Thursday afternoon, you can find a dozen high school students in STEM teacher Karen Kutz’s Maker Space after school. A few are bent over wires, wood and gears. A few are focused on screens and coding. Others are designing logos and marketing campaigns. Together, they are the Spring Lake Park Robotics Club.

The high school previously had a robotics club, but it disbanded in 2014 when students – and interested parents - graduated. This year, Karen and her co-coach, Physical Science teacher Kyle Greene, have worked with students to resurrect the team and the name “The Panthinators.”

Their goal is to have a working robot to participate in the FIRST® Robotics Competition, INFINITE RECHARGE. They plan to build a robot that can drive well and fast, can pick up balls (up to five at a time) and can push the balls through a hole in a wall.

“We’re trying to keep it manageable since this is new to all of us,” says Karen.

More than a competition

The basic frame for the robot’s base and wiring is already taking shape on a big table in the back of the Maker Space.

Two students working on the wiring of the robot for Robotics Club

Pictured: Tyler Moody and Dania Hammouri

“I have some background with building things, but always with step-by-step instructions,” says Tyler Moody, a senior. “We don’t have instructions for this. We have to problem-solve, get help from the teachers and mentors and basically figure it out by trial and error. After this, I think I will be more confident to try things out on my own versus always just following instructions.”

Tyler is working alongside Dania Hammouri, a 10th grader.

“My favorite part of this club so far is trying to figure out what we are going to build and then taking the steps to make the idea a reality,” says Dania. “Everyone in the club has different ideas and abilities, so it was fun to see everyone use what they have to offer to work towards a common goal.”

As a coach, Karen is pulling on experience gained in her pre-teaching career at Medtronic. There, she had roles in customer service, IT program management and business analysis and continuous process improvement (if you know the lingo, she’s Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt

certified). While overseeing curriculum and training, she rediscovered a passion for teaching. Now, the robotics club is offering a different take on bringing the learning together.

“It’s a really great way to get kids interested in STEM, in engineering and coding,” says Karen. “It offers a hands-on experience in problem-solving and learning. There aren’t a lot of opportunities at the school for kids to do that.”

Mentorship matters

Members of the community with industry experience have joined the students and provided coaching and hands-on help. One mentor came for a couple of hours on a Tuesday to work with the club members to figure out what kind of robot they wanted to make.

Robotics club students working with a community mentor on the wiring of the robot

Brian Schenk, a parent of a current student and a student who graduated last year, is helping with the build. As a mechanical engineer at Boston Scientific, he uses these skills every day in his work.

“I’ve always wanted to try robotics, says Brian. “I’m an automation engineer and work with automation all day long. This was an opportunity to work with the kids and show them some cool stuff.”

The club is still looking for mentors.

“The big thing that makes this happen is people from industry who have the skills and use them every day in their work who can come teach the kids,” says Karen. “Anyone can reach out to me to learn more.” (Find her at kkutz@district16.org.)

For now, you can find The Panthinators hard at work and focused on getting a robot up and running by February 15, Week Zero of the competition. It will be the first chance they have to test their robot on a real course.

Whatever the outcome of the competition, the experience is proving worthwhile.

“I joined the robotics team because it sounded fun and I want to go into engineering after high school,” says Sydney Gotham, a junior, “So, I’ll hopefully gain some skills that will help me in that field. And even if I don’t end up going into that field, it’ll still be fun.”