Students at PV high school participate in many extracurricular activities; some play a sport, others play an instrument and many participate in afterschool activities. However, there is one activity that dozens of students across the PV school district participate in.
FIRST is an organization that sponsors several international robotics programs for students K-12. More specifically, FIRST has four competitions that students take part in: FIRST Lego League Jr., FIRST Lego League, FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) and FIRST Robotics Competition. Most PV teams compete in FTC.
FTC is a STEM-based program that integrates teamwork, engineering and outreach to create a multifaceted activity for students to learn valuable skills in. Teams begin with outreach before the actual competition information comes out, usually during the summer after the previous year’s competition.
Outreach is an integral part of FTC. Teams go out into the community and spread STEM programs and STEM education. For example, the Winter Soldiers (a local FTC team) started several FLL (FIRST Lego League) teams in the elementary schools, along with starting robotics teams in India. Outreach teaches many life-long skills, such as community service and communication, and is a major factor in determining a successful team.
There are around 16 different robotics teams in the Quad City area; PV High School sponsors two of them. Those teams are “Deviation from the Norm” and “Everything that’s Radical.” Both those teams are coached by Mr. Stutenberg, and are very competitive.
Another local team is called the Winter Soldiers, and isn’t technically affiliated with the school. However, 11 of 14 students on the Winter Soldiers are from PV. Sravanthi Vedula coaches the team, and both of her sons are heavily involved in robotics.
The Winter Soldiers started when PV students came together and decided to create their own robotics team.
“I, along with friends of mine, wanted to participate in robotics, but we did not have time in our schedule to participate in the school’s robotics team. We decided to go rogue and make our own,” commented junior Varun Vedula.
In September, FIRST releases the information for that year’s competition.“During that month, we go into brainstorming and planning. We come up with designs and then we choose one. After we decide on an idea, we start building the robot. This year we 3D modeled it before we started building,” said Vedula.
The first important competition is in January. Before the league championship, several local “league meets”, or scrimmages take place, with the several local teams. In January, the league championship takes place which determines what teams go to the next round.
“In a competition, the judges interview the team and the team explains what they have done throughout the season. Then, a robot game takes place and the teams communicate with each other,” said junior Arya Sangle.
Many teams attempt to go to worlds, and it is a great honor just to compete at that level.
“It takes a huge commitment to get to the world level, with a lot of time and effort put into it. A team must have a fantastic robot which can compete at a high level, and they must impact the community by spreading STEM,” stated Sangle.
The world competition will take place from April 24 to April 28 in Detroit, Michigan.
