Issue link: http://frankenmuthcvb.uberflip.com/i/1238619
14 Frankenmuth High School is helping to prepare our students in this field with a robotics team affectionately called The Steagles. Founded seven years ago by coach Willie Beck, this growing group has a reputation of competing very well, often finishing in the top third, against teams that are much larger. Coach Cindi Major shares, "Initially, when students think about robotics, they may think they don't know enough, or they don't have the skill set required to be a productive member of the team. Nothing could be further from the truth. Robotics is all about learning, creating, collaborating, making mistakes, learning from those mistakes, and creating something better." This is all under the careful tutelage of our mentors, who are our area engineers and teachers. The games and the field in which the robots compete are designed by First Robotics, an international organization that encourages students in the field of robotics by creating competitions where students can test their ideas in fun and competitive ways. Each year this organization comes up with a new game and playing field. In turn, the students must devise and execute a plan for their robot to meet these requirements. This is much more than Battlebots, in which robots are just slamming into one another (even though this does happen at times), high school robotics involves skill and finesse. This year, our robot will need to pick up several balls, shoot those balls through openings, spin a color wheel, hang from an elevated bar, and move for a portion of the competition entirely through computer programming. All this gives the students challenges to overcome and such a sense of accomplishment when they see their ideas come to fruition. The team, coach, and volunteers spend hundreds of hours building and coding. We are grateful for the community support of Kremin Inc. and the Frankenmuth Community Foundation. FHS Students build their 2020 robot at Kremin, Inc. in Frankenmuth Lucas Major, Alex Meyer, and Frankie Ayala Perez dedicate many hours outside of school to prepare for competition. THE STEAGLES It is predicted in the next ten years, over 50% of all jobs will be in the field of robotics and this number is only expected to rise in the years thereafter.