The Random Lake School District is making waves in the world of robotics with the growing success of its middle and high school robotics programs. Competing in the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), students in grades 7-12 have worked together to design, build, and program a competitive robot, while also learning valuable STEM and teamwork skills.
This 2024-25 school year marked the debut of Random Lake’s FTC team, Ram Robotics #27150. Despite being new to FTC, the students impressed at their first competition, where they placed fifth overall, holding first place at one point in the standings. Their robot, named Spike, features an extendable arm and claw that can lift and hang blocks, and was designed with support from a Google grant and community sponsors.
“Our mission is to gain knowledge and experience with robotics, engineering, coding, and to have fun,” the team shared in their engineering portfolio.
Throughout the season, Ram Robotics members not only tackled mechanical and programming challenges, but also developed a comprehensive engineering portfolio, built a team brand, and gave a formal presentation to a panel of judges during the competition. They also took part in outreach efforts, including speaking at a school assembly to promote robotics among younger students. The team’s growth has been remarkable.
Students are looking forward to the completion of the new STEM lab. The updated space will provide dedicated areas for robotics, engineering, and other hands-on STEM learning opportunities. Outfitted with flexible furniture, woodworking tools, and equipment for video production and computer science, the lab will encourage collaboration and innovation among students of all grade levels.
In addition to FTC, Random Lake’s robotics offerings include the LEGO League program, which introduces younger students to robotics and engineering through themed challenges. This year’s theme, “Unearthed,” inspired teams to explore topics related to archaeology. LEGO League participants designed and programmed robots to complete tasks on a themed obstacle board and presented their research and ideas to judges.
When asked, District Administrator Dr. Michael Trimberger remarked, “We have done so much with our STEM classes in the younger grades, it is great to see how RLAdvantage translates to the competition arena.” The district hopes to expand its robotics program in the future to include even younger students and is looking to increase both student participation and the pool of community mentors. Sign-ups for next year’s teams will be available in late August, and middle school students can also join by enrolling in the 7th and 8th grade robotics elective course.
Whether learning to wire a robot, solve a programming challenge, or present to a panel of judges, Random Lake students are gaining much more than technical skills. They’re also learning to collaborate, innovate, and persevere.
Want to learn more about FTC? Click here!