The Robotics Club at Gunston Middle School, part of the Emerging Leaders Program through Edu-Futuro and in collaboration with the Minority Achievement Office, entered two teams in their first competition this past Saturday, February 27, at the Arlington Career Center. The Adam Nesbitt Robotics Challenge, named in honor of the late technology teacher at Gunston, included morning workshops for the students and an afternoon of completing challenges against three other Arlington schools.
As the date of the competition drew closer, the two Gunston teams competing in Saturday’s Challenge dedicated every single afternoon to practicing with their robots. One seventh grade student named Tania, who has been with the club since the end of last school year, was excited about the competition and is proud of her teammates for all their hard work.
“I joined Robotics Club because I was interested in STEM things, and I wanted to do something outside of my comfort zone. I love working on a team with other students and how we learn through our differences and work together to figure stuff out.” She enjoyed competing against the other Arlington teams and the programming workshop, where a mentor taught students how to make their robots do a pivot turn.
Tania is excited to continue working with Robotics Club this year, and hopefully next year as well. Her words of advice to students? “Just try something new. You never know if you’re good or bad at something until you try. I was bad at programming, but I learned my strengths from working with the club, and now we all teach each other different things.” She is already looking forward to high school, and joining the STEM Club at Wakefield High School.
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