Learning is a process

These students discover it's about more than winning

by Sara Peters

Evelyn DeLeon, thoroughly covered in flakes of black rubber, sat on the floor in the middle of many watchful eyes. She carefully retreaded the tires on the robot placed in her lap--a robot she'd help construct. She was patiently training her peers on how to do the same, happy to pass knowledge gained from her own experience. Evelyn is a high school junior.

Evelyn and other high school students are learning the gritty skills of a working engineer, thanks to the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) program.

This program gives high school students the chance to get hands-on engineering experience. College students and professional engineers from businesses and universities help high school students design and construct a robot. The "bot" is built to certain specifications to perform an assigned task, and to compete in the FIRST robotics competitions.

Glenn Northey, a technical staff member in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE), has worked with students in the FIRST program at Trenton Central High School (TCHS) for several years now.

Mr. Northey recruited MAE undergraduates Ben Gemmill '03, Ben Essenburg '05, Joe Sarokhan '03, and graduate student Bob Anderson to help this year's team. Together they created "Spongebot," menace of the playing field. Spongebot and the team vied against other bots in the FIRST competitions held at Drexel University March 27, 28, and 29, and at Rutgers University April 3, 4, and 5.

The TCHS team goes by the handle "Arial Tornadoes," after their original sponsor Tom Pirelli '69, chairman of Arial Systems. Although Arial did not fund the team this year, Mr. Pirelli found them another sponsor, Jim Utaski of Whitestone Capital. Mr. Northey also attained sponsorship from Evex. The Tornadoes are guided and advised by Mr. Northey, the Princeton students, and three TCHS teachers, Dave Cipilloni, David West, and Ed Schmidt.

Mr. Schmidt's machine shop at TCHS is impressive, although he's more eager to show off a photo of his lovely 10-month-old granddaughter than the mills, lathes, and grinders. The shop is the size of a gymnasium, a maze of heavy machinery. Mr. Schmidt trains students in the use of this equipment and often recommends some of his most enthusiastic students to join the FIRST team. Sometimes, he said, they're too enthusiastic.

"I tell them to be here at 3:15, and they show up at 3:05," Mr. Schmidt said. "And sometimes I think, 'Come on, give me 10 minutes to myself,' but they're just so excited."

The students add FIRST onto a long list of other activities, including clubs, work, and sports.

"I'm missing track practice right now, and I'm going to have to argue with my coach when I get there," said sophomore Ronald Wade. "It's tiring," he says, sighing melodramatically.

The students explain that FIRST is a considerable commitment of time and energy. On some occasions, Spongebot's construction required them to trade dinner at home for pizza and wiring, or swap Saturday morning cartoons for test-driving.

"They were long days, but toward the end we didn't mind because we were finishing it and seeing what it would really look like," said junior Michael Smith.

"All we had to look at in the beginning were two metal railings," said sophomore Patrick Alvorado. "And that was it for a long time."

Once the engineering work was complete, the Tornadoes said arrivaderci to Spongebot, who was shipped off to FIRST, to be reunited with the team on game day. During the bot's absence, the team focused on the business end of the work. The Tornadoes spent weeks preparing promotional materials to push Spongebot as a superior product, and boning up on their engineering knowledge so that they'd be ready with responses to any judges' questions.

Spongebot was put to task on the playing field. Sophomore Daniel Monzon said two robots take the field, which has scoring zones at either end, and a large stack of boxes in the middle.

The objective is to score more points than the opponent by restacking the boxes in one's own end zone, or preventing the opponent from doing the same. The outermost boxes are worth fewer points than the boxes tucked into the center. According to the Tornadoes, the playing field is enveloped by the palpable fervor and clamorous cheering of hundreds of fans and competitors.

"It's filled with noise completely," Patrick said. "You have to talk really loudly to hear each other."

"It's so loud that some of the teams actually hand out earplugs," said junior Evelyn DeLeon. "It's like a football game. It's hundreds of students presenting their work. Their long, hard hours of work. So, it's emotional."

"Emotional" may be an understatement. During their competitions, the Tornadoes experience the gamut, from the agony of defeat to the thrill of victory.

The Drexel competition was a crushing disappointment. The students' driving and operating skills were not up to par, and Spongebot's foundering earned him some shuddering losses, finishing dead last overall. After some hard thinking, a new resolve, and a week of training, the Tornadoes hit Rutgers with a whole new attitude, determined not to let their bot down.

They finished near the top of the pack and had the honor of being chosen to compete in the final tourney against the first-placed robot. They earned the respect and admiration of their peers and learned some valuable lessons along the way.

"We were very proud," Mr. Northey said.

Sadly, even if the Tornadoes had won the regional tournaments, they would not have been able to attend the national competition held in Texas this year. Despite a vigorous letter-writing campaign, the team was unable to secure enough funding for the trip.

"We'd need about another $15,000 to pay for all the airline seats, hotels, and food," Mr. Northey said.

Although Mr. Northey and the team are disappointed that efforts to find additional sponsors were not fruitful, the students still feel the experience is worth the effort.

"It's exciting because I like to get my hands dirty," Ronald said. "And I think it will be a good thing to have on my college applications."

"The hands-on experience is what I think is great about this program," Evelyn said. "We're getting dirty, cutting metal the wrong way, and learning from our mistakes. And it's not only learning the technical stuff that's important, but getting to know if we really like it. I know people who go through their whole major at a university, get a job, then realize that they don't like it. You cannot be doing something your whole life and not like it."

The students say they learned that engineers must be able to work as a team and must have patience. They all proclaim with confidence that they plan to be engineers of one form or another. Jamie Jupiter, a freshman, already has plans to be both an artist and a computer engineer, hoping to combine the two.

Ronald has a more immediate goal. "I want to go to Princeton," he said. "It's one of the top schools in the United States, plus I've been on a lot of tours around campus, and I like it. I'd be one of the first people in my family to go to college, and I'd like my school to be Princeton."

For more information about FIRST, go to www.usfirst.org.