RJHS robotics team finishes off season – Russellville Courier

by BY SAM HOISINGTON hoisington@couriernews.com The Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

It's been over two weeks since their last robotics competition of the season, but members of the Russellville Junior High School (RJHS) robotics team are still hard at work on different projects in the school's engineering classroom.

Maybe it's a part of their routine now -- team members spend about two hours daily working on robotics-related projects during the season -- or maybe it's a genuine love of science and engineering being formed that keeps them hard at work.

The last competition went well enough, with the team placing second overall. The robotics team is made up exclusively of ninth-graders, and they were up against teams of older students from bigger schools, some of who had been involved in robotics since fifth grade in districts where that was an option.

Sylvia Woods, an engineering teacher at RJHS and the robotics club sponsor, said she was "very, very pleased" with the team's performance, pointing out that many of the team members are also involved in jazz band and the Quizbowl team, among other extracurricular activities.

Jake Hodges, team captain, had mixed feelings about placing second.

"Well, it was equally satisfying and depressing," Hodges said. "It's our first year, so you know, a bunch of freshmen students coming and beating a bunch of engineering experts was pretty good, but then also the fact that we came in and got second place after months and months of hard work was kinda sad because we don't get to go any farther with it, but I'm proud of it overall."

Only the first-place team gets to advance to the statewide competition.

For a period of time, it may have looked like the team of dedicated newcomers might take first. Some unexpected trouble with the robot lost them a few rounds of the competition, though.

"We blew out one of our cortexes, which is the brain of the robot, so that stops everything from moving. We shorted it out so much, used it so much, it just fried up," Qui Nguyen, co-captain and main mechanic, said.

"We had to think up on the spot," Josue Mendoza, main electrician/mechanic, said, recalling the tension of the moment.

The team had to work together in that moment, using their different areas of expertise and working together as a team. Members of the team say that although they have different titles, everyone is viewed as important.

"All roles are equally important," Jaedon Enchelmayer, mechanic, said. Fellow teammate Alex Tanner, who primarily worked on documentation for the robot build, also chimed in to echo a similar sentiment.

"Overall, we're essentially equal to one another. We just have the roles we play," Tanner said.

The 13 team members all have different personalities, interests and aspirations. But many of them say they're interested in joining the robotics team when they move to the high school next year.

Woods has even bigger plans for them, though.

"One day these kids will put a robot on Mars -- I just know it," Woods said.

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RJHS robotics team finishes off season - Russellville Courier