Just days after school let out for summer, about 100 Renton students participated in the Career and Technical Education’s Summer STEM Robotics Camp.
The camp is in its second year and was held at Lindbergh and Hazen high schools, June 22-July 1. Sponsored by the Career and Technical Education Department and the Friends of Renton Schools, the camp was free to any Renton student who wanted to attend.
Fifteen-year-old Kane Anderson came to get a jump on robotics for next year at Lindbergh High School. Monday was competition day and his team’s robot “Beast Mode” was fairing well in the tournament.
“It’s been really fun,” Anderson said. “I’ve been learning a whole lot more than I have been last year. So I’ve felt like I’ve been more of a help (on the team).”
At the science, technology, engineering and math or STEM camp, students got to learn computer programming, Sketchup design, 3-D printing, shop skills, game strategy and they even created engineering notebooks. Students put together all of these skills in just seven days, culminating in the creation of their robots and match day.
“I’m very impressed with how the kids have been able to, in a very short period of time, make a robot that can actually move on the field,” said Dave Goldy.
Goldy is a retired Boeing software developer and camp mentor. During the school year he helps out with the robotics programs at Hazen and Lindbergh high schools.
“I mean these kids just come up with ideas that I’d never even dream of on how to build a robot that will pick up these balls and move around,” Goldy said. “They’re very creative kids and I’m so proud of them for how creative they are.”
The program is based on a FIRST Robotics game. FIRST stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology” and the organization hosts camps and competitions for young people nationally. A local FIRST chapter donated the use of a lot of the competition materials and devices.
The students actually made some of the wooden parts to their robots during their shop skills sessions.
“All teams are made up with as many different kinds of kids as possible,” said Kim Sweet, CTE instructional facilitator. “So they’re from six different schools and they have a wide variety of ages, so we’re all one big Renton School District team.”
Thirteen-year-old Amanda Smith was kind of disappointed that the camp was ending this week. She really had fun learning about programming and fabrication, she said. She was familiar with robots, having worked on her school’s robotics team at McKnight Middle School.
“I wish it would go on longer; if there’s one next year, I would go to it,” Smith said.
That seems likely as the Friends of Renton Schools just granted the Renton School District $150,000 for STEM programs. They also granted the district $10,000 for music programs and $5,000 for the arts recently.
