From left, Jacob Schmitz, Cooper McNaughton, Grace Seilinski, and William Place work on a problem. Photo by Phil Custodio

BY PHIL CUSTODIO
Clarkston News Editor
Team RUSH will be busy building machines for competition after the new year, but until then they’re staying busy with the next generation of robotics students.
“It’s really amazing to do my part to grow interest in the field,” said Megan Haddad, senior at Clarkston High School. “It’s really rewarding to see girls in the STEM field. It’s really inspiring.”
The high schoolers are coaching the Junior FIRST Lego League robotics teams, meeting Tuesdays after school.
“We have first, second and third graders who meet to build and program robots, do research, and work together as a team,” said Kyle Hughes, Team RUSH teacher. “The neat part is they get an opportunity to come up with solutions and explain them with drawings and writing.”
Hughes hoped for about a dozen students in this first year of the program, and more than 50 have signed up.
This year’s theme is water, including the water cycle, recycling, and how to use technology to provide water to a village. The teams work on a problem and brainstorm solutions, which they program and build out of Legos, she said.
“The kids are excited. They can’t sleep on Monday night because it’s coming up on Tuesday,” Hughes said. “The kids are genuinely interested. They run from the parking lot to be here.”
Sarah Wilson’s son Lars, 7, loves the program.
“He loves the Legos and coming here with his buddies,” Wilson said. “The high school coaches are doing a really good job. The kids really look up to them as mentors. It’s an amazing group.”
Sign ups went out in the spring and the program kicked off in September. A Show Me event is from 8:30-11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 11. The event will include challenges where teams will strategize and demonstrate solutions, with presentations to judges.
“It’ll be a wonderful morning,” Hughes said.
FIRST Robotics League competition for the high school team kicks off on Jan. 6, when this year’s challenge is announced.
The goal for Team RUSH is the world championships in Detroit in April, Hughes said. For more information, check www.firstinspires.org/robotics/flljr.