The first thing the students want you to know is that it’s NOT about the robots.
Yes, the robotics team from Oak Harbor High School builds some pretty amazing stuff, including a robotic arm for a local girl and a realistic deer to catch poachers. They’re working on a water purifying tricycle designed for sub-Saharan Africa.
The focus is on building people — the future innovators who will change the world, said Breanna Belz, an 18-year-old Oak Harbor High School senior.
“It’s not about the robot,” she said. “It’s about your team’s overall impact on the community.”
The Wildcat Robotics Club, made up of 24 students, was recognized Saturday for doing that better than any other team in the region at the Pacific Northwest District Championship.
The competition brought 65 of the best teams from Washington and Oregon.
The Wildcats received the Chairman’s Award, the highest honor bestowed on a robotics team. The award is presented to the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate.
The award is based on the team’s activities for the past several years, with special emphasis on progress and community service.
The team has put in more than 1,000 hours of community service on a variety of projects.
Che Edoga teaches robotics at the high school and leads the club. Under his leadership, the program has become one of the strongest in the Northwest. In the essay that won them the award, the team wrote about the challenges of fielding a successful team on an island and in a military community, where the student population is small and fluid.
Despite that, the program’s success is helping it spread district wide, with robotics classes available at middle schools and elementary schools, said senior Cameron Ralphs, 17. Some of the club members mentor younger students. Robotics combines technology, engineering, math and science.
For Ralphs, the skills he’s learned “have opened an entire aspect of the world.” He understands not only more about how technology works, but also more of what he’s capable of. He’s considering a career in aerospace. His teammate, Belz, is heading to Notre Dame in the fall and plans to study engineering.
The team has a 100 percent on-time graduation rate and four-fifths of the members leave school planning to attend either a trade school or college.
Monday the students donned their white Wildcat lab coats as they unloaded hundreds of pounds of equipment from a truck.
The robotics classroom practically bubbled with creativity. The room was a delightfully messy mix of computers, tools and drill presses (with the appropriate safety equipment), and in-the-works projects.
The lifelike poacher deer stood at attention in the corner. In another was a Wildcat mascot head with flashing eyes.
The students qualified for the World Robotics Championships, scheduled later this month in St. Louis.
The next step is figuring how they’ll raise enough money in a few short weeks. They are asking the community for help. Donations can be made at www.gofundme.com/77yq8qy4.
“This is a remarkable accomplishment for our students,” said Principal Dwight Lundstrom. “Under the leadership of Mr. Edoga, our students have made impressive progress towards becoming one of the best robotics teams in the nation.”
