Robots tossing and retrieving balls, moving boxes high and low, and even climbing a rope can generate a lot of excitement for the students who built them and wrote the computer coding that makes it all happen.
Robotics teams from Fargo, West Fargo and Hatton-Northwood were in Jamestown on Monday to show area business leaders and school officials a robotics demonstration. JHS Principal Adam Gehlhar talked about the robotics program he helped to start as an assistant principal at West Fargo High School six years ago making a difference in helping kids prepare for the 21st century workplace.
“It's really an important part of developing our future innovators for our community,” Gehlhar said.
Jamestown High School is adding a competition robotics team this school year. The program is to inspire students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics (STEAM), he said.
“The competition itself is designed to give that ‘Friday Night Lights’ experience to robotics,” Gehlhar said.
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Brad Mackowick, a career and technical education teacher who started the West Fargo High School robotics team with Gehlhar, said professional engineers and mentors guide the students in learning design, engineering and coding. One of his robotics students, Sadiyo Hassan, went on to co-found Rising Tide Software right out of high school at age 18, and is now contracting with companies like Microsoft, he said.
“Most students who go through this program stay for a year or two and go on to transition into a STEM field,” Mackowick said. “They find engineering more interesting and want to pursue that.”
The school district is funding a robotics team adviser and a search is underway, Gehlhar said. A sustainable annual budget would be $15,000 with another $10,000 to compete at regional or world tournaments, he said.
JHS is seeking first year grant funding from NASA, UND Aerospace, North Dakota Career and Technical Education, the John Deere Inspire program and Argosy, he said. Representatives from UTC Aerospace Systems, First Community Credit Union, Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp., Jamestown Regional Entrepreneur Center, John Deere Electronic Solutions and Agricover attended the demonstration to show support for mentorship and partnership, he said.
“The community involvement and buy-in on this is a real neat part,” said Mike Voglewede, a retired science teacher with the Hatton-Northwood School District, who has coached the school robotics team for 17 years. “The kids think they are building a robot but they are really building a future and a career.”
Brad Poppe, a software engineer with John Deere, has mentored the West Fargo High School robotics team for several years and now coaches the Fargo Public School District robotics team. There are grant and scholarship opportunities for teams that have a John Deere employee as a mentor, he said.
The goal is to show how the collaborative effort works in an actual engineering firm, Poppe said. The teams learn to coordinate with other cross-functional teams and bring all that work together into one solid vision, he said.
“It provides that real world experience,” Poppe said.
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A robotics team has 15 to 25 student members, Gehlhar said. Each team has three core areas of programming, building and robot operation, he said. The team is recruiting local mentors with skills or interest in engineering, fabrication and design, manufacturing, programing along with farmers who have a background in designing parts, electronics, wiring, riveting or welding, he said.
“We know from talking to people in economic development about the importance of STEM careers and this gets kids inspired and seeing themselves in those roles,” Gehlhar said.
There are currently four high school robotics teams in North Dakota, Gehlhar said. The regional competitions are big arena events held in Duluth and Minneapolis, he said.
The JHS team will be a member of For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, a nonprofit robotics organization founded in 1989. Its mission is to use the excitement of competition to inspire discovery, innovation, respect and teamwork.
