Stellar Robotics, a Mansfield area, community based FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team, will hold its first meeting on Friday, August 8, at 7:30 p.m., welcoming all interested students and parents.
FRC is known as “a Varsity Sport for the Mind,™” combining sport, science, and technology. Teams of students are challenged to raise funds to build and program a robot to perform assigned tasks against competitors.
Stellar Robotics is the new local FRC team, thanks to the efforts of Chantal DeYoe. DeYoe’s family has been involved in FRC for four years, and she felt that the Mansfield area needed its own team. She noted that her family had been involved in a team in Milan, and that the miles traveled became extensive over a period of time.
DeYoe said her family became involved through a summer camp her son attended in 8th grade. The camp program was run by some of the FRC mentors, therefore providing the connection that helped her family discover FRC. “We got involved and never looked back,” she said. “It’s a great program.”
DeYoe noted that FIRST offers more than just robotics. Through involvement, students may hone writing skills, learn to make videos, and master computer animation, as well as perfect team, leadership, and communication skills.
Last year, DeYoe added, companies provided over $19 million in scholarships to FIRST participants. “Anyone on these teams can apply for scholarships,” she explained.
Stellar Robotics is open to students in grades 9 through 12, ages 14 to 18, and includes students in public and private schools, as well as homeschool students. The team is open to residents of Mansfield, Ontario, Shelby, Bellville, Ashland, Lucas, Lexington, Mt.Gilead, Galion, and Crestline, as well as the rural areas surrounding each.
The mission of the group is, noted on the website, “To inspire young people to be science and technology leaders by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills; that inspire innovation; and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.”
Stellar Robotics is currently seeking mentors and volunteers as well as students.
More information may be found at the website.
Stellar Robotics’s first meeting will be held at the home of a Mansfield family, and therefore interested parties are requested to contact Chantal DeYoe at 419-929-8558 or stellarrobotics@gmail.com for location information.
