A new and innovative enterprise is on a trajectory at MTS High School. It will be the first competitive robotics team at MTS and a boost for the STEM program at the school promoting science, technology, engineering and math interests.
The FIRST team begins with 13 students. The FIRST acronym is “For Inspiration & Recognition of Science & Technology” at firstinspires.org.
Students assemble a robot to compete in a castle-like setting, breaching defenses, throwing balls called boulders and capturing opponent towers. They travel in early March to the Lake Superior Regional competition in Duluth.
“It takes 21st Century skills to be successful in America, even in the world,” said Emmanuel Obikwelu, the MTS science teacher who is spearheading the effort. Dallas Wilm is the area engineer advisor to the program and interacts with area donors. Wilm works for Xcel Energy at the company’s Riverside Plant in Minneapolis.
“This is a great way of learning,” said Wilm to the student team. “You get to see the end result and it’s really rewarding.”
The team leader, senior Patricia Brown, is a highly motivated JROTC student who is already planning on a career in nuclear engineering. She is working closely with Mr. Obikwelu on securing grants and recruiting students for the team. Some $10,000 will be needed for the program, and more than half has been raised with a “rookie” grant and help from IBM and Pentair Corporation.
Brown started checking out students earlier, offering assignments to some and then reviewing their responses. “Science is kind of like second to math, nobody really likes it,” she said, but adds that even those who aren’t at the top on the team can still get a lot from it.
The robotics team leader enlisted in the U.S. Navy and serves as a cryptic technician, a job that helps in positioning troops correctly, based in part on decoded enemy messages. “Technology, engineering and math are all areas where people are needed,” she notes.
