Eaglebrook has many opportunities for new experiences through clubs. One of the most well-known clubs is Robotics. The Robotics club teaches coding and robot building while competing in the First Tech Challenge (FTC). This competition has taught us a lot, especially how to stay dedicated. Even when we get really busy with schoolwork or SSA applications, everyone on the team works together and gives it their all to make sure the robot is ready. We contribute all the effort we can. The FTC might be different from what we expect. Usually, people think of a Robotics competition as two robots fighting with different kinds of weapons. This does exist, but at the FTC, we compete to earn points by performing a specific task, like launching a paper airplane the farthest or launching a ball to a specific spot. There are two modes: manual and autonomous. The drivers have to try to earn as many points as possible in both of these modes before moving on. After that, the judges will ask questions in the interview about the robot’s ideas and how each design improves the robot. The Eaglebrook Robotics Club participated in the FTC competition this winter trimester. This year, the Robotics Club placed second among lots of teams, almost qualifying for the States competition. This spring, the Robotics Club is mainly preparing for next year’s competitions. We discuss how we can improve, with more experienced members passing on knowledge and information to newer members to help them and step up as leaders in the coming year. We also learned many new skills, such as laser cutting and coding, thanks to Mr. Sadnytzky. Additionally, Mr. Huang mentioned that keeping a log of what we did each day is important for our presentations, which earns us extra points. We worked hard every day and never gave up. We wish to qualify for the States next year!
The members of our team are Ethan Bu ’27, Edwin Huang ’27, Ryan Hur ’27, Michael Kao ’27, Nathan Kim ’28, Jack Metcalf ’27, Taka Takaki ’27, Ted Tian ’28, Lucas Wu ’27, James Wang ’27, Darcy Yu ’27, and Anthony Zhao ’27. The teachers include Mr. Paul Huang ’86, Mr. Nick Sadnytzky, and Mr. Dorsen Joseph.
