The Fairview Robotics team attended the South's BEST tournament at Auburn University last weekend.
FAIRVIEW – Robotics is a hot new field, not only of study, but of competition for high schoolers and middle schoolers across the country. For students at Fairview High School (FHS), their studies are starting to pay off in the competition arena.
FHS is involved in a national robotics program known as BEST: Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology, a free program (funded by corporate sponsorships from the science and technology sector) to get students interested in and prepared for careers in engineering and technology. The BEST website www.bestinc.org has tremendous amounts of information, but FHS Robotics team sponsor Nick Feldner gives us a compelling snapshot.
Said Feldner, "The BEST program provides opportunities to students that do not typically exist at small rural schools. Our students are not only introduced to basic engineering skills, but have the opportunity to learn software programming, 3D graphics rendering, audio/video techniques and business management. Students get real world application to critical thinking and problem solving. Most students don't even realize the extreme educational value of the program because the game/competition makes the learning experience so much fun."
The FHS team is set up like a corporation, with Caleb West as its CEO, Hope Bowen as the marketing director and Connor Pendergrass as the engineering director.
According to Feldner, "An equally important part of the competition is the business aspect. Each team develops a marketing plan to promote the robot through a trade exhibit, interviews, commercials, T-shirts, websites and sales presentation."
Of course, the business end relies heavily on the performance of the product. That's where other team members come in. "Corporate officers" West and Pendergrass, along with Jesse Harris, Brandon Garretson and Jordan Trammell, serve as competition drivers for the team's robots. A total of 20 students from grades 7-12 fill out the team's roster.
Each team also has mentors, volunteers from technology and engineering fields who come in to help the students. Feldner was insistent that particular credit be given to FHS mentor Chris Calloway, a mechanical engineer who teaches the students how to use various machines and equipment, and guides them through the processes of engineering, machining and constructing their robots.
At this year's North Alabama BEST competition at Wallace State in October, FHS Robotics won the Robotics Game portion for the second time in a row, qualifying it to attend the multi-state South's BEST tournament in Auburn this past weekend. From 22 hubs like Wallace State all over the Southeast, 58 high-placing teams were invited.
Feldner described this year's event: "This year's game was an agriculture theme. Teams had to design and market robots that would harvest various items that represented crops such as corn, tomatoes and lettuce. Robots could also herd pigs, plant seeds and control an irrigation valve."
He continued, "The events hosted at Wallace and Auburn resemble athletic events on a grand scale with bands, mascots, cheerleaders, officials, etc. It also has the feel of a rock concert with elaborate props, lighting effects, music and hosts."
At Auburn, FHS placed 30th, not just out of the 58 teams there, but out of all BEST teams in the five-state southeast region.
Feldner has been with the FHS Robotics program since it started seven years ago, and has become a strong advocate for BEST because of what he has seen it do for his students.
He stated, "At Fairview we continue to participate in BEST year after year because of all these benefits, but ultimately a program like this gets students interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) careers where they might not have considered them before. We have had many students over the years choose college majors in these areas because of the BEST program. In fact, scholarships have even been awarded to members because of their participation in BEST robotics at Fairview. It’s hard to argue against such a program and I highly encourage other schools in the area to join in."
Watch for "Driving the future" part 2, featuring the BEST team of Good Hope Middle School.
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