Club Corner with Pierce Alvir: Robotics Club Update
Here at South High School, we have various clubs students can join. Last year, our school’s Robotics club was created, and competed as a rookie team in the FIRST Competition held at Rockland Community College. The FIRST Competition is a robotics competition where students utilize multiple skills to create a robot for a specified game that pits robots against each other. FIRST advocates STEM growth, time management, and more opportunities. When the Robotics club competed last year, they were known as the Orange Blinking Lights. This year, the team has changed its name to the Cyborgs and has even revamped the logo for the team.
The main teams are the same as last year, with the addition of a new team. The club consists of a mechanical team, which will be broken up into sub-teams this year to focus on specific aspects of the robot, an electrical team, a programming team, an art team, a public relations team, a finances team, and a new secretary team. The mechanical sub-teams will work on CADing (computer assisted designing) and building specific parts of the robot such as the main chassis. The electrical team works on wiring the robot, so it functions correctly. The programming team codes the robot to perform certain functions. These three teams coordinate with each other and the other teams mainly focus on outreach and management. The art team creates the website and social media accounts. This team works closely with public relations, which gets sponsors for the team, so that we can have parts for the mechanical and electrical teams. The finance team helps manage the money that the team acquires from the sponsors and the secretary team helps manage and coordinate.
Additionally, the team was able to get school funding and a room at the school this year. Instead of having to drive to the Clarkstown Learning Center to have meetings, can conveniently meet at club meetings after school and work, even if they play sports. The club is much improved from last year and has benefitted from experience. It is a great environment for students to meet new people and gain valuable skills.