“Gearheads” Travels to International Championship

By Joel Howard

Winning is as much a journey as it is an end objective, as the Gearheads have learned over the past four months. Just three month ago, Northwest Regional High School’s robotics team was meeting after school almost every day to get their new club organized and ready to build their first robot. Even on Saturdays a strong contingent of team members and mentors were busily huddled over electronic components, plans for fundraising, and ideas for publicity.

Their work has paid off. The robot that they took to the regional competition in Hartford in March won the Rookie All-star Award, giving them a berth at the national championships in St. Louis in late April. With the date only weeks away, the Gearheads found themselves scrambling to organize the logistics of competing at the national level and transporting team members and mentors to the FIRST Championship in Missouri.

The demands of creating a task-specific robot in the space of six weeks brought new maturity—and new skills—to all the participants. Some devoted themselves to design and physical construction. Others developed the necessary software, learning computer languages in the process. Others threw themselves into fundraising, marketing, and website construction. All through those high-pressure weeks in January and February, the students had to cope with a full-time class schedule. Everyone was pushed beyond his or her comfort zone.

One example of such personal growth was on display at a mid-April team meeting. The logistics and funding for the upcoming trip to Missouri were under discussion, and pandemonium was taking over. But Eli Wooton, the Gearheads’ student president, easily brought the gathering back to quiet and order. Focus returned to the task at hand. Three months back, the youthful chaos would have continued indefinitely, but today reasoned deliberation won out.

“At first for me it was hard to handle because of all the stress that went along with trying to organize everyone and keep them on task,” said Wooton. “But now that regionals are over I find that robotics has brought me a lot more knowledge on how to be a good leader. On top of that I feel my people skills have gotten ten times better. Before robotics I hated calling companies about anything, or even talking to important people. But now I have no problem talking to managers of companies.”

The same confidence shown by Wooton was evident in every student at the meeting. But the group’s journey was not just a game-changer for the students. Mentors too found they had been moved by the positive experiences afforded them.

“It’s been amazing to see these kids grow,” said Norfolk mentor Michele Cyr, whose son Shane is a team member. With a big smile she said, “I knew it would be a challenge they could meet, but they went way beyond what I ever expected of them. The mentors get as much—or more—from this as the kids themselves do.”

At the recent meeting the mentors seemed as refreshed and energetic as the students, goading the team to stay focused as they worked on the logistics of their upcoming travels. One person with boundless enthusiasm was mentor Rachel Vincent, who also is a teacher at the school. She has put in long hours in the team’s basement lab after a full day in her classroom.

“I have been in tears several times over this team and the events surrounding them,” says Vincent. “The outreach from our community, a great family of friends and neighbors, has touched us all. It has helped pay for most of our lodging for the FIRST Championships.”

Fresh from several recent successful fundraisers, the team continued their march to the championships armed with their increased confidence. Even the trip’s possibilities drew a measure of enthusiasm from student Thomas Young.

Slapping his hand on his thigh, he exclaimed, “Hey, I’ll finally get to ride a train!”