One soccer state championship may be enough for some schools. But here, where overachievers are the norm, students strive to be the best at everything. And, in the third attempt at a championship, the athletes are robots.
Since September the Robotics club has met every Tuesday and Thursday to assemble a 120-pound robot that will compete in a soccer tournament against other robots March 11 to 13. With four people, no parent advisors or mentors and only $30 in its bank account, the team’s vision seemed more like an impossible dream.
“Our team really hit rock bottom this year,” senior Emily Lutz said. “[Mr. Pope] thought my background on building robots and engineering could help drive the team in a new direction.”
But now, several months later, nine engineering mentors are helping the 29-person club to achieve their mission. The robotics club, or Team 1389 as they refer to themselves, shipped the robot to the Baltimore Convention Center Feb. 23, where it will play soccer against five other robots in a room divided by ramps and obstacles.
In addition to playing soccer, this robot can climb foot high ramps and haul itself and two other robots up a seven-foot tower.
The club built the robot and learned the mechanics of robotics at the same time. Club members have also been responsible for reaching out to the community to explain how engineering is important to the country.
Because the team is not well known at Whitman, Lutz said, part of their goal was to increase their efforts for recruiting new members.
“It’s all about how you use your time because robotics isn’t just building a robot,” she said. “It’s about being able to fund-raise, work together, create a website, apply for awards, reach out to the community, communicate and run a successful team.”
Because the team was only given six weeks to create the robot, they had to continue working through the February snow storms that closed school for a week. When they were unable to get into the school building, the team worked in sophomore Aidan Clawson’s basement.
With fundraising from NASA, Lockheed Martin, Zeta Associates, CTA Associates, Ledo’s Pizza and the SGA, the club raised over $12,000 this year alone in order to pay for the tools to create the robot that will be entered in their first ever regional competition.
