YORKVILLE, IL (February 7, 2011) — Three nights each week, 17 Yorkville High School students gather with six mentors to design, strategize and build a robot they have named “Foximus-Prime.” This endeavor for the high school’s new Robotics Club is an industrious undertaking, as they are preparing to enter “Foximus-Prime” in the Midwest Regional FIRST® Robotics Competition, March 24 – 26 at the University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC) Pavilion.
FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), is a national non-profit organization founded by Dean Kaman, inventor of the Segway, to inspire “an appreciation of science and technology in young people.”
Tracey Hosey, Director of Gifted Education for Yorkville School District 115, is the lead mentor for the Robotics Club.
“Last year, we became aware that a neighboring school district was participating in a robotics competition, and I decided to check it out,” said Hosey. “Once I researched FIRST® and spoke with some of the organization’s staff, I decided that this would be an awesome opportunity for our students at Yorkville High School. We invited Dan Greene, the Illinois director of FIRST®, to speak to the Gifted Advisory Committee and to Tim Shimp, then principal and now Yorkville’s associate superintendent,” she said. “Tim and I worked over the past year to turn this idea into a reality, which includes finding a group of incredible students to participate, soliciting funds from the community for support and having five other adults from the community step forward to serve as mentors. This competition is costing the school district very little,” she said.
“The Robotics Club has received sponsorship from both corporate and private levels including generous donations from the JC Penney Store in Montgomery, IL, Fox Foot and Ankle in Yorkville and support from individual families,” said Hosey.
“Foximus-Prime” is being built using two boxes of parts that each participating Illinois team received at the January 8 kick-off. Each team is able to purchase other materials, but no one piece can exceed $400. The robot must be remote-controlled and able to perform tasks in the LOGO MOTION challenge such as maneuvering around an obstacle course and picking up and hanging items such as inner-tubes and other shapes onto strategically-placed pegs, according to Hosey.
“Though the focus of the competition is the building of a robot, founders of the national program saw the effort as a way to develop the principals of critical thinking, innovation and teamwork,” said Hosey. “The program has been called ‘the varsity sport for the mind’ because it combines science and technology skills with learning life lessons, as students work with mentors who are experts in their own field.”
Yorkville High School’s Robotics Team members are Jose Alcaraz, Elia Bottazzo, Alex Cimaglia, Cheylene Dearth, Zoe Dollman, Malia Dunn-Reier, Nick Gillette, Jordan Gingrich, Austin Hampton, Francesca Hernandez, Amy Hosey, Anna Hosey, Garrett Knox, Maria Leifheit, Jake Otto, Jonathan Schmitz and Trevore Skibinski.
In addition to Hosey, other mentors for the Robotics Team include Dan Cornwall, Yorkville High School technology education teacher; Eric Miller, Yorkville High School pre-engineering teacher; Mark Otto, large equipment instructor; Dan Schmitz, design and mechanical engineer and Sandy Yu, mechanical engineer.
“We have tremendous school, parental and community support,” said Hosey. “Parents take turns providing dinner to our students and mentors each night we meet, and we have a study area set up where our students can take the time necessary to complete homework and not miss important aspects to the robot build,” she said. “Our building and grounds personnel have bent over backwards to provide us with a place in the loading dock area to actually build the robot.
“To see the enthusiasm of these kids, the innovative ideas, the cooperation and teamwork with local adults who are experts in their field is awesome,” said Hosey. “These are real-world skills. The entire robot development and design is up to our team’s own inspiration, vision, teamwork and creativity,” she said. “It is an exciting place to be.”
