Mt. Vernon Register-News

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December 16, 2009

Pupils learning robotics at St. Mary

By RORYE O’CONNOR

rorye.oconnor@register-news.com

MT. VERNON— Eighth graders at one local school are learning science and engineering by putting together and taking apart small robots.

St. Mary School eighth graders traveled Wednesday to Brehm Preparatory School in Carbondale, to learn the tricks of the roboting trade from the students in their robotics program.

The Brehm Preparatory School’s team, called the Megahurts, won second place at the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition regionals in St. Louis last year. Brehm students are conducting the workshop to share what they have learned through their experiences with robotics competition, according to information from Brehm.

St. Mary School principal Brett Heinzman said the school’s robotics program started at the beginning of this school year, with donations allowing the school to buy four robots that sixth, seventh and eighth graders have constructed and re-constructed to perform different tasks.

“Our goal was to give our students an additional thinking skill,” Heinzman said.

Eighth grade students will have the opportunity in St. Mary fourth quarter this year to take robotics as an elective class, Heinzman said. He said the school wants to secure more funding for robots and the possibility of traveling to the national competition.

“We have started small, and we want to dream big,” he said.

Tom Stachyra, literature and English teacher at St. Mary, is also the teacher running the robotics workshops for students. He said he is looking forward to the fourth quarter class.

“It will teach basic engineering and mechanical skills, and teach them how to come up with ideas and work it out,” he said.

Stachyra said both girls and boys at St. Mary have gotten enthusiastic about robotics, despite the idea that boys might be more interested.

“The girls work as a team,” he said. “They’ll have one person doing this, and one person doing that. Some of the girls started making a robot with a backpack that raises the books to the top.”

He said students enjoy robotics because it’s new and unusual.

Heinzman said he hopes the students not only pick up some robotics skills, but also learn some networking techniques from the students at the preparatory school, which he said is near Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

“I’m hopeful our students will get some ideas and network,” he said.

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