 Peninsula High School is the first school to have a Botball team in the Pacific Northwest, which includes Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The team attended a regional competition in California in April, winning Judge's Choice Awards for "Best Sportsmanship" and "Best Presentation."
Botball is a robotics competition that is sponsored by the KISS Institute for Practical Robotics (KISS stands for "Keep It Simple, Stupid," which is also the institute's motto). While participating in this competition, every student team receives an identical set of Legos and assorted metal parts with which to construct their robots. All the robots must be designed to operate autonomously, meaning they must perform their functions without receiving outside commands.
This is the second year PHS has had a robotics team. "The robotics team gives me a lot of experience working with things that don't work even though they should," said head team programmer Austin Cluff. "It gave us an excuse to stay inside in front of computers on nice days."
But the Botball competition is more than just an enjoyable pastime; it provides the team members with practical experience in a highly technical field and helps teach them how to design, build and test a complex machine. Team captain Bryan Humlie said, "This gives me experience for my career field, computer engineering. And it's fun!"
Being the only Northwest team means there is no league in the immediate region, so the PHS team had to travel to California to compete at the Botball regional championship on April 19 at the University of Santa Clara. They faces stiff competition this year, going up against 27 other teams. In the end, PHS placed 11th in the ratings.
The coach for the team is Sheri Ahlheim, a math teacher at PHS. She's trying to increase interest in and support for the team since many of the current members are going to be graduating this year. If the team doesn't recruit more members, it may not be able to continue next year.
"I knew it would mean a lot of extra hours outside the normal school hours for me, but it's such a great opportunity for the kids to explore something different," said Ahlheim, who is volunteering her time to lead the team.
Botball is not a cheap activity. It costs $2,500 to register a team and members have to pay their own travel expenses to go to California. Ahlheim arranged a partial scholarship from the KISS Institute to help defray the entry costs this year. The team also received a generous donation from the PHS Boosters, which covered the rest of the entry fee. With limited financial support from Peninsula School District, the team is actively seeking funding to ensure that PHS can continue to participate in Botball next year.
Ahlheim hopes to expand the program. Some students at both Gig Harbor High and Key Peninsula Middle School have already expressed interest. She hopes to eventually see a Botball Pacific Northwest competitive region. It takes 12 teams to start a new region.
Cameron McMillan is an eighth-grade
student at KPMS and a member of the PHS Robotics Team.
The hawks watch anxiously while their robots do their thing at the University of Santa Clara
Official scorekeepers tally up the Hawkbot points.
Seahawks (from Left Austin Cluff, Bryan Humlie, Cameron McMillan and Joel Overly) show off their awards for Best Presentation and Best Sportsmanship.
The at-home team, from left: Joel Overly, Bryan Humlie, Austin Cluff, John Towey, Doug Heiret and Jonathon Sherfield
|
|
