When most people hear the word “robotics,” they probably think of a small group of students huddled together making a robot. What many people don’t know is that robotics is a class that consists of over 60 students from freshmen to seniors all over the district learning from chosen topics and teams varying from programming, logistics, fundraising, safety, design, solid works, mechanics, and electrics.
“Kids nowadays need something- not everyone is an athlete, not everyone knows what exactly they want to do in life, but they want to fit in somewhere, and this is the class for those kinds of kids that want to just work with their hands and do fun things, but feel important and belong to a club,” robotics teacher Velma Lomax said.
Robotics is an eighth period class at Ventura High School, consisting of a population of 10 Foothill students, and 50 from other high schools in the district. It is every Monday and Thursday from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Foothill used to have a robotics class in 2009 and 2010, but the class was closed after low interest was shown by students.
“As a technology school, I think it’s really important that kids at Foothill are aware of opportunities like this and if they are interested they should definitely join, so if students at Foothill are interested in engineering or any stem-related field, this would be a really great opportunity for them to at least check it out,” Foothill junior Jameson Mah said.
Robotics not only provides a fun, educational environment, but it’s also a class where students can participate in many competitions.
“Robotics is actually a part of FIRST, which stands for ‘For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology,’” Lomax said. “It is a worldwide organization that competes with robots that the students have built, but it’s more than robots. It’s about 45 percent robots and the rest is Corporate America. Students have to have a plan, a chief financial officer, a chief executive officer, just like a corporation would have and it’s a lot of fun.”
The robotics class has been receiving awards and achievements.
“This year we went to the Inland Empire so far, which was down in San Bernardino and we were in the top alliance teams […] As a team, we won the Spirit Award, and individually, the highest honor an individual student can get is the First Dean’s Choice List, and one of our students from Ventura High School, Dylan Mcnamara, won that, he now goes on to world to compete for that award,” Lomax explained. “In the past, in our first year we won Rookie of the Year and we went straight to the world competition and we’ve won other minor awards, but this year was big.”
This year’s robotics students worked hard to create an ideal robot for the competition in San Bernardino. Lomax explained that “the robot had to pick up a 24 inch pilates ball, be able to pass it to another robot, shoot it over about a six-foot-tall truss and shoot it into an eight-foot-tall target.”
Many students from Foothill who joined robotics say that they really enjoy their experience being in the class.
“I like the openness. It’s a lot like a family because you get to know a lot of people during the process and it’s also a really educational program because you get to learn a lot about technology and robots, engineering and stuff like that,” freshman Jeremy Sim said.
One appealing part of the class for many students is that they get to meet other people their age who enjoy this hobby that has not been very popular in the past, but is rapidly growing.
“This class has managed to bring together over 60 students from across the district and bring them into an environment where they have to work together to build, design, and program a robot out of just raw materials, enter in competitions, work together to make sure that they get far in the competition, look great for the Spirit Awards, and it’s done a great job in succeeding in all of those,” senior Brandon Longo said.
It might be hard for some students to fit robotics into their schedule, but students say that it is ultimately worth it.
“This class gives you a lot of opportunities, especially since it’s prestigious and a really great class. A lot of colleges look at it and , I mean, this program is definitely an exceptional opportunity,” junior Trevor O’Keefe said.
Robotics class might make a Foothill student’s day busier, but their school schedules will not clash with it since it is after school.
“Seeing the awards, and seeing your output with your team all go into that final robot, it’s just amazing and a great feeling that makes all the effort worth it,” Longo said.
