When you first think of High School extra curricular activities, your mind likely goes straight to football, basketball, or some other form of ball and field type game, but if you talk to any of the over 600 thousand students worldwide who are a part of the FIRST organization, you’ll get a different response. Robotics! Robotics has given these students access to important leadership and STEM skills at a young age, but the only issue is availability. Not many schools provide funding for such STEM clubs, which means they are missing out on important teaching opportunities. More schools should provide better access to STEM clubs, such as FIRST, in order to encourage students to learn important life skills.
An article from the New York Times tells the story of Cillian Jackson, a two year old from Minnesota who, due to a medical condition, was unable to walk from birth. Local High School Robotics team, Rogue Robotics, saw Cillians struggle and decided to work together to find a solution to Cillians problem. Using STEM skills, Rogue Robotics designed an electric wheelchair custom made to fit Cillians needs. Upon seeing the wheelchair for the first time, Cillians mother said, “Those kids are so smart and so compassionate […] they were so thrilled to see that the work that they had done made a difference”. Thanks to the collaboration of the students, Cillian was able to do more than he could have ever imagined. He could even chase his Corgis around the house!
The main counterargument to High School Robotics, is lack of funding. However, a large part of the FIRST organization is outreach, which includes fundraising. For many FIRST teams, including the one that I personally am a part of (Team Photon – 18050), nearly all of our funding is brought in through grants, and other fundraising opportunities that are fully set up and operated by students. This not only means the clubs are reasonably cheap to start, but students also gain important outreach skills while fundraising for their team.
Given the life changing capability and general inexpensiveness of High School robotics teams, it seems like a no brainer to incorporate them into High Schools across the country and even world. There is no lack of need in the world for engineers, scientists, programmers, and leaders, and clubs like these help inspire kids to pursue academic careers in STEM. So, if you know of a robotics team around, go support them! But if you don’t, then go to your school’s district leaders and fight for STEM!
– Malkin, Elisabeth. “A Robotics Team Built a Toddler a Wheelchair. Now He’s Chasing His Corgis Around.” The New York Times, 3 Apr. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/04/03/us/robotics-wheelchair.html.
-“What Is STEM?” Pearson Accelerated, www.pearsonaccelerated.com/blog/stem.html. Accessed 13 Dec. 2023.
-“FTC Team Photon 18050 (@ftc_teamphoton) • Instagram Photos and Videos.” Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/ftc_teamphoton/?hl=hu. Accessed 13 Dec. 2023.
-“First Inspires.” FIRST, FIRST, www.firstinspires.org/home. Accessed 13 Dec. 2023.
-Licensed-Image (2048×1368). encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/licensed-image?q=tbn:ANd9GcRRKD9ECH2z7g_pqRU4EpXZVGR0zlfMFud_Ls2C6YEM4kUv7JKa3uzEhF8Om6KnHnQU3xkw6sbrWIrrOl0. Accessed 13 Dec. 2023.