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Harding team heads to national
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Kenny Crawford, a senior at Warren G. Harding High School, is a member of the robotics team there. The team Delphi ELITE won the chairman’s award at its competition in Pittsburgh last month and will compete in St. Louis next week.
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Warren G. Harding High School senior Samantha Arthur, left, controls a student- built robot, while the robotics team coach Keith Rising and senior team member Tyler Nimmagadda look on. The team will compete in a national robotics competition April 25-28 in St. Louis.
By ED RUNYAN
runyan@vindy.com
WARREN
Because STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering and Math — is an umbrella big enough to cover a variety of students, the Warren G. Harding FIRST Robotics team is made up of much more than just science geeks.
“There are a lot of different kinds of kids who are involved in the FIRST Robotics team,” said Travis Hoffman, a mentor to Harding’s successful team.
Delphi ELITE has had its most successful season this year, winning two competitions and finishing second in a third. An open house Tuesday introduced the team and let the members show and tell what they do.
“Some are already academically oriented, some have never even thought of college before, and there are ones who are interested in college but don’t know what they are going to do yet,” said Hoffman.
Furthermore, the 30 to 40 Harding high school students participating each year represent diverse skills and talents, Hoffman said.
While it may seem as if robotics is only about programming a device, Harding’s Delphi ELITE Team 48 has members whose talents take them in other directions.
Juan Perez, a sophomore, is interested in computers and is part of the audio-visual team. It records the competitions and edits the recordings for broadcast on the high school television station. It also provides the recordings to the “build team” that programs the robots so they can learn from them.
An audio-visual presentation is also part of the competition for the Chairman’s Award, Perez said. The award is just as important as the “on-the-field” competition of the robots, team leaders say.
Delphi ELITE won the Chairman’s Award at its competition in Pittsburgh last month and will compete for the international “on-the-field” title at the FIRST Championship April 25-28 in St. Louis.
The Chairman’s Award recognizes success in community outreach, demonstrated cooperation among FIRST robotics teams in the same region, and the team’s success in sustaining itself from year to year, said Alexandra Marino, a senior.
Tiffany Donley, a junior, and Darien Genova, a senior, work with Marino on a team whose emphasis is on communication and presentation, the girls said.
The girls, each dressed in similar jackets and eyeglasses, perform an ambassador’s role for the team on the competition floor by answering judges’ questions and making a presentation to them.
The AV team and the scout team work hand-in- hand, said Morgan Kush, a sophomore on the scout team, which watches the recordings and evaluates the other teams.
At the end of the second night of the competition, the scout team provides the build team with a report on what it has learned. That helps the overall team
develop strategy for the third day, Kush said.
Hoffman, an engineer for Delphi Packard Electric, has been mentoring members of the 15-year-old Harding ELITE team for 12 years. No matter what specialty each team member has, each gets valuable exposure to the STEM fields, Hoffman said.
“Across the board, in all cases, the program can open the door in STEM,” Hoffman said, adding that there is about $18 million in college scholarships available.
Robert Seidler, engineering director at Delphi’s Champion Technical Center, said the students learn skills on the ELITE team that they can apply to a variety of jobs.
“What I see coming out of a program like this is that whether they are going into technology, engineering, mechanical, electrical or civil, or going into hands-on work like a mechanic, they get hands-on experience,” he said.