From left, are, first row: Isabelle Passmore, Brittany Keith, Isaac Owens and Cameron Reams; second row: Dakota Dufour, Anthony Hutton, Richard Massimino, Doug Howell, Dravin Kennedy, Stephen King, Maynard Weidman and Caleb Sipe; and back row: Seth Miller, Corey Wingate and Peyton Priester.
Not shown are Ryan Spencer, Alex Clark and Mason Royer. (Provided photo)
CLEARFIELD – On Monday the Clearfield school board voted to support the junior-senior high school’s robotics team by sending it to the regional competition, which it’s qualified for, and on if it advances further.
The team recently participated in the Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology (BEST) Robotics Competition. It was held Oct. 21-22 at the campus gymnasium at Penn State University DuBois Campus.
DuBois won the BEST Robotics Competition. However, Clearfield was right behind with a second-place finish. Winning the competition means a team’s performance in robotics, engineering design notebook, marketing plan, etc., were all tallied and combined for a total score.
The top three schools – DuBois, Clearfield and Redbank Valley – will also advance to the Northern Plains BEST Regional Championships to be held Dec. 1-3, at North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND.
School Principal Tim Janocko highly recommended the district send the students, and while there is a fundraising component, he said it will not raise the amount of funds needed in such a little amount of time.
He pointed out if he waits until next month to ask for board approval, it would be too late. Board Vice President Mary Anne Jackson asked Janocko what amount of money was needed, and he said they’d started working on figuring that out but were hoping for around $10,000.
“That would be to fly those kids out there and to accommodate them, but I think it’s worth it,” he said. “They’ve done an outstanding job and I’m proud of the work they’ve done so far. We need your go-ahead support to work on that.”
Board member Gail Ralston asked how many students the robotics team would send to the regional competition. Janocko said out of the 20 or so students involved, they were looking to send nine or 10 students and four advisors.
Teacher Jackie Carr, who is also one of the team’s advisors, explained there isn’t a robotics club in place with officers. But they do plan to set up an organization and have year-around fundraisers to cover future expenses.
Ralston called the board’s attention to the request made to the DuBois Area School District by its robotics club. DuBois, she said, has plans of sending 20 students and with the different spots and areas to fill, it would be “cutting it close” for only nine or 10 students to do all of the work.
Board member Dr. Michael Spencer concurred with Ralston. Both Janocko and Carr said they really wanted to take more personnel and students but were under the gun and trying to limit the expenses for the district.
At that point, Superintendent Terry Struble pointed out the district doesn’t trim for other sports and activities. He said when wrestlers qualify for states it takes every kid plus teammates to practice with, and it’s the same for however many kids make it to state band.
“We send them,” he said. “It’d be my recommendation to have the advisors let us know how many they feel need to go in order to represent us well.” Struble then took the “plunge” for this to not only include the BEST regional competition, but also any future trip that may come out of that. “That way, they know if they make it, they are going on, as well.”
Ralston said she liked that while it offered added encouragement and support from the board. Spencer added the team worked hard to get around 20 students actively involved, and he’d hate to see them have to pick who to send.
“If you want the program to build into future years, you have to support it. I think that’s critical,” he said. Janocko said if board members wanted to send more robotics students, they were “all in.”
It was then approved for the district to send the robotics team to the regional competition in Fargo, ND and on to the national competition in Texas if it would qualify for it, and board President Larry Putt wished the robotics team luck.
Earlier in the meeting during public comment, teacher Judi Bookhamer said that robotics was new for Clearfield, and it was their first-ever competition.
“To get second place our rookie year was really exciting,” she said. “We went up against DuBois, and they’ve done it and went on for three years in a row now.”
BEST is a national robotics competition for middle and high school students. The BEST organization provides all necessary parts and equipment for teams to build a robot that they can use to run a course and perform specified tasks.
According to a previously published press release, this year’s theme challenges teams of students to solve problems on a farm using technology. The objectives are to build a robot to perform farming operations.
Each team is located near an area where they can harvest corn and plant seeds. The robots had to be built within a six-week timeframe. During the contest, all teams ran the course, competing for the best times and course completion.
Through participation in this project-based program, students learn to analyze and solve problems utilizing the Engineering Design Process, which helps them develop technological literacy skills. The goal is to better prepare these students for further education and careers in STEM fields, (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
Teams also compete and receive awards for other areas of the project, which include marketing, exhibition, sportsmanship and spirit, software design, and are judged on their project notebook.
In marketing, Clearfield students took first. Clearfield was second in spirit and sportsmanship with a little help from Benny the Bison and third in the notebook, said Bookhamer.
Clearfield also won the “Robust Robot” award, she said, because the team’s robot didn’t break down the most during the competition. She added: “It held together the best, but we did lose an arm in the finals.”
Lastly, Clearfield won the Founders Award for “Best Design/Engineering.” It was an honor given from the two Penn State engineers who founded BEST Robotics.
Clearfield’s robotics students are being advised by Bookhamer (math) and fellow teachers Nancy Hoover (business), Carr (agriculture), Leonard Barsody (science), Barb Spila (gifted education) and Michele Moyer (English).
“Everyone came together and it was a great team,” said Carr. “We couldn’t have picked a better team … the kids were just fabulous and I mean they worked hard. I am really, really proud of them.” Putt commended the Clearfield Robotics Team on a job well-done.