It didn’t seem like much at first – neon yellow softballs being pushed by nuts, bolts and strips of moving perforated tin – but as the balls rolled past the goal line, student engineers patted each other on the back, parents visibly bounced and middle schoolers looked on admiringly as they dreamed of future robotic competition. Twelve teams met at the College of Southern Maryland’s La Plata Campus on April 23 at the “CSM Robotics Challenge: a Southern Maryland High School Competition” to test their robot designs, meet with other local students and demonstrate to local business, community and education leaders that their generation has the right stuff to move engineering technology and design to the next level.
“Isn’t this fantastic?” said John Reardon, director of Charles County Economic Development department, as he pointed to a group of tri-county middle schoolers who were watching the competition intently. “The great thing about technology and creativity is that you never know where the next answer is going to come from, who the next Bill Gates will be. Events like this remind us adults that sometimes we need to stand back and let the students apply their energy and drive to their own ideas.” “Today is about the students,” said Judy Thomason as she watched the competitions from the sideline. Thomason, former chair of CSM’s technical studies department, noted how far the competition has progressed in the two years CSM has been applying a National Science Foundation Grant to developing interest in the science, math and technology fields.
“Last year, we had two teams working with Lego Mindstorm kits and here we are, a year later, with 12 fantastic teams who are helping to build this competition from the inside out,” she said. One of the competitors trying to establish a Southern Maryland robotics reputation is the RoboBees from the Dr. James A. Forrest Career Center in Leonardtown. “The RoboBees helped CSM conceive, plan and execute the robotics competition by providing input about what the competitors needed in terms of space and encouragement. They also showed true sportsmanship by mentoring and encouraging students from other schools to develop their own robotics team,” said Jeff Tjiputra, instructor and chair of CSM’s department of technical and industrial studies. In addition to being mentors, the RoboBees have spent several weekends a month traveling to regional VEX competitions in addition to their regular class hours and training sessions. “This is about recognizing these students for the time and energy they have put in developing the best robotics teams possible,” said RoboBees Coach David Buddenbohn, who added that while he is extremely proud of his students it will be hard to see his senior members leave for college.
The RoboBees, who are comprised of four teams and won six of the 11 available awards at the CSM Robotics Competition, are being recognized for their talent by several prestigious schools. Leonardtown High School Senior Tim Miedzinski has been accepted into several notable colleges but has decided to attend Virginia Tech to study mechanical engineering. His teammate Daniel Logan will attend Virginia Tech as well to study computer engineering while Zach Stachelczyk will attend the University of Maryland, Baltimore County to study computer engineering. “The robotics program and competitions have given me a once-in-a-lifetime experience, one I wish all students could have as it has allowed me to work with real engineers and witness engineering first-hand. I, as well as the others, have learned so much from these past three years and I truly believe it is one of the best activities a student can participate in,” said Miedzinski. The success that teams like the RoboBees have seen in getting