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Robotics offers kids jump on future jobs

The future of technology is taking place in a classroom at Cimarron-Memorial High School, where a group of students is working on Pit Boss III, a robot they’ve created during the past six weeks.

The robot can move and pick up basketball-sized foam balls and launch them into the air, all of which are design specifications for the FIRST Robotics Competition the students plan to enter this year.

This robotics class is part of something bigger. Teachers are trying to get students involved with science, technology, engineering and math programming to prepare them for the future.

“We are producing students who are ready for the industry, not just for show,” says Eric Stensrud, a robotics coach at Cimarron-Memorial.

Across the country, classrooms are adding robotics programs as a way to attract students.

“We are piquing their interests in robotics by making it fun,” says Jeanne Donadio, director of the Clark County School District’s career and technical education department. “But we are also preparing them for the jobs of tomorrow.”

The school district has followed suit by having numerous elementary, middle and high schools offer robotics. Curriculum varies from school to school, but in general classes teach students the building blocks of engineering and computer programming.

The earlier the age, the better.

Donadio says even elementary students can start to learn the basics and progress each year.

Every time students advance in a grade and start a new program, they are implementing another skill those interested in the industry must have: adaptability, Stensrud says.

“People today (working professionally) are having a hard time adapting,” he says. “But if you introduce students to robotics in elementary school, then they switch to a different platform in middle school then again in high school, they are learning to adapt to changes in the industry.”

In each program, particularly in high school, the designs the students work with will look good in portfolios when they are applying for schools or jobs.

Stensrud says the program gives them direction beyond high school.

One of the students in the club, Alexa Lignelli, has participated in the program since freshman year. The years of studying and learning in the lab have inspired her to study entertainment engineering.

“I want to use robotics to create something like Disneyland,” she says.

At Cimarron-Memorial, Stensrud watches students progress each semester as they design and create a new robot.

They treat their shop like any other company would treat work, giving teens the same experience many professionals have.

“I loved it when I was able to say I have a 15-year-old machinist,” Stensrud says.

Before it was a class at Cimarron-Memorial, robotics was just a club that started 15 years ago for students who wanted to get involved as a hobby.

As it grew, the small club became big enough to turn into an actual class.

Known as Team 987 — robotics teams are named in order of when they are created and Cimarron was the 987th team — they have had great success in competition.

They’re ranked fourth in the world out of more than 6,000 teams.

Stensrud says their designs have consistently been ranked in the top four in the past few years at various competitions.

“It would be like your basketball team making it to the Final Four year after year,” he adds. “That’s pretty impressive.”

High Stakes, the design for 2015 that was created to be able to pick up bins and stack them, won second place in the FIRST competition.

Pit Boss III, the robot the class has worked for the past six weeks to create, was completed at the end of February. Now students are fine-tuning computer code to make sure it runs smoothly — and practicing operating the robot.

This year’s challenge was to create a robot that could play an elaborate game of capture the flag. In the classroom, they built a model of a course they will compete on that includes drawbridges and a castle.

Students take control of Pit Boss III to see if they can navigate him across the course and launch foam balls through the castle windows.

The class is scheduled to attend several national and international competitions.

Right now, robotics classes are an elective.

But the school district is in the process of morphing the robotics class into a full-blown technology academy housed within Cimarron-Memorial.

Like any other magnet school, students would apply to be a part of the program. If students don’t live near the school, they would have to apply for a zone variance in order to attend.

Stensrud says there are no plans to offer buses.

He adds because of the type of work students would be doing, they would probably be staying outside of school hours to complete projects.

“We want students and parents who are dedicated to this,” he adds. “We want parents who are willing to drop off and pick up their children if they stay beyond the hours or students who live close by so they can walk home.”

The program should be open within the next year.

As technology jobs continue to become more prominent, facilitators think the school district will grow to meet the needs of the industry.

“I think the program will keep growing,” says Donadio. “There is definitely a need for it.”

Contact reporter Michael Lyle at mlyle@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5201. Follow @mjlyle on Twitter.

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