A Bold Plan

Rural, economically challenged and sparsely populated counties are becoming centers of innovation for STEM education.

A catalyst for change

It was 5:55 pm on a recent Friday in one of the most economically distressed counties in North Carolina. The program was scheduled to begin at 6 pm in the Warren County Middle School gym. Dr. Ray Spain, Warren County School Superintendent, and Sam McCormick, a partner in Must-Innov8, Inc. looked anxiously at their watches. There were only a handful of people in the bleachers. As they collectively looked out the front door a line of cars began to stream in. Fifteen minutes later the bleachers were filling up.

Fourteen members of a high school robotics team based at the North Carolina School of Science and Math came out of a room adjacent to the gym having devoured a huge meal that Lisa   Kronner had prepared for them. They too found seats in the bleachers adjacent to their large robot named “Hot Sauce.” The middle school student’s eyes were all focused on 2 of the high school students doing some last minute tinkering with “Hot Sauce.”

Dr. Spain was beaming as he led Joe Kronner and McCormick into the gym. All of the kids knew they were there to learn about new FIRST Lego League robotics teams being formed in two of Warren County’s schools. This was the first stage of implementation of a bold plan to excite students about learning science and math. Dr. Spain, Chairman of the Roanoke River Valley Education Consortium, is committed to transforming lives of students and in the process create a vibrant economy for the region.

Dr. Spain welcomed the students and their families who had come on a Friday evening after a long week to learn about these robotics teams. Dr. Spain explained that Bertie County Middle School was also forming 3 robotics teams and that they would be competing with them as well as some other robotics teams from across the region. Then the excitement began as he told them that he had been a principal in Bertie County. He explained that Bertie County was planning on winning the regional competition. He told the students and their families that he could not return to Bertie County if that happened. The crowd responded with laughter and applause.

Then the principal invited Sam McCormick to speak and handed him the microphone. Sam assured the students that they could be successful in competitive robotics. He showed them a video of middle school students from Forsyth County who were all on rookie teams at their first Forsyth County Robot Run. Sam told the middle school students that they too would have as much fun and learn as much about robots as the Forsyth County teams had. The middle school students watched the video mesmerized by the antics and accomplishments of the table-top robots.

Sam introduced his partner, Joe Kronner, to talk about business involvement in this project. Joe told the students, parents and faculty about how Jeff Stalls, Director of Operations for Perdue Farms, reacted to seeing the video. “Jeff was excited. He saw the knowledge and skills being developed by the students as the skills that they seek in their workforce,” Kronner explained. “None of this would be possible without the support of business partners like Perdue Farms, Duke Energy, Halifax EMC, Roanoke Electric, NC Electric Cooperatives and Harris Equipment.

Kronner talked about one of the most important ingredients of the program being the coaches and mentors. The coaches are typically science or CTE teachers. The mentors are generally from business and have technology backgrounds. For many if not most of the students the mentor is the first person they have met with a technology background. The mentors are responsible for opening up new vistas of career opportunities for these students. Joe shared his own experience with sports and how his single mom encouraged her 7 children to participate in sports to keep them out of trouble. “While sports participation was good for me and I was good at them, there was no chance I was going to be able to go pro. That is where this sport is different. Everyone on a FIRST Robotics Team can go pro! There are good jobs waiting for them when they graduate.” Joe introduced a Morgan Freeman video about the importance of mentors in FIRST Robotics programs.

Joe Kronner introduced Marshall Massengill, the mentor for the high school FIRST Robotics Challenge Team 900. FRC Team 900 was invited to St. Louis last year for the FIRST Robotics Challenge World Championship where they competed in the 70,000 seat Edward Jones Dome.
Marshall and the team members gave the middle school students and their parents a taste of FIRST Robotics. They explained that they had 6 weeks to design and build their robot named “Hot Sauce,” the same timeframe the middle school students would have to build their robots. Marshall sent one of the team members to the far end of the basketball court. He had a Frisbee tied around his neck. His teammate explained that the Frisbee had a reflective material on it. The bright light on the front of the robot reflected back to the robot’s webcam and that is how “Hot Sauce” tracked the target. As the student moved around the robot adjusted its position. They gave the robot the command to activate the catapult that launched a ball the size of a beach ball two thirds of the way across the gym to a perfect landing in the target’s arms. The robot was programmed to convert the distance into the force and trajectory required to deliver the ball perfectly to the target. You can see “Hot Sauce” in action here.

The bleachers went wild and the middle schoolers could not get enough of the robot demo. After the demonstration, the students and their parents poured out of the stands to register for a FIRST Lego League team and then swarmed around “Hot Sauce” and peppered the high school students with questions.

One middle school student confided while he was registering for a team, “I told my dad that he had to get home on time tonight so that we could get here.” And then he beamed as he looked over his shoulder at his dad.

A little while later while his three boys were crowded around “Hot Sauce,” the dad talked to Sam and Joe about being a volunteer. He signed up to be a team mentor and said his only disappointment was that there was not a team for his younger sons. Sam smiled and said, “That is our next challenge.”

The faculty and district staff were delighted with the outcome. Everyone in the community was embracing these young robotics teams because they saw how they excited the students and knew how it could change their lives.

Friday night was the first critical step in a long journey. The effort’s Steering Committee will lead the implementation of the middle school robotics program while developing a regional strategic plan to implement a variety of afterschool STEM teams similar to FIRST Lego League from kindergarten through 12th grade. An equally critical element of this bold plan is to bring the excitement and energy of the afterschool STEM teams into the classrooms across the region.

FIRST Robotics Team 900 is named “Secret Sauce.” The program being implemented in the Roanoke River Valley Region has its own secret sauce. The thing that excites students about being on a robotics team is that they lead the discovery and development process. The combination of working on robotics, which seems to be addictive for students, and leading the discovery and development process is the “magic sauce” that results in student excitement and engagement.

“Once students discover the joy of being a problem solver and innovator it seems to leave a lifelong itch to go further and deeper down a path of discovery and innovation. The only courses of study that scratch that itch are Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.

Exciting students about science and math is a marketing problem. Successfully engaging students in science and math requires showing them how much fun science and math can be. It is simply a matter of sneaking up on them and getting them to love the discovery and innovation process before they realize they are chest deep in science and math and enjoying it!” Sam McCormick said in closing.