For every robotics competition, the students in the club spend months developing, building, and coding in an effort to create the perfect

robot. At the competition, their creation is put through challenges and tests with the goal to ultimately triumph.

“Everybody is presented with a new problem and then it's kind of going to be creative with how we approach it,” junior Spencer Bradley said.

For the competition that was on April 16-18, the club developed a remotely controlled robot that was able to grab and throw balls.

“One of the main things this year at the competition is our robot has to be able to pick up these balls that are kind of dodgeball sized, and it

has to be able to hold like eight of the dodge balls,
and then actually shoot them into a basket,” robotics advisor and teacher Layne Cook said.

Cook is new to the program because the previous robotics advisor, Bryan Holder, could no longer continue to manage the club, as he had just

received the position of vice principal at NS. Because the club lacked an advisor, Cook, not wanting to let down the students in the club, stepped up and took the place of Holder.

“The only reason I took over was because they asked me if I could help, and I didn't want to see the kids not be able to do the competition,”

Cook said.

Cook doesn't necessarily have a background on the subject, but he still wants to help the club in any way possible.

“I teach business, marketing and entrepreneurship and a bunch of other classes that fall in that category, so I don't really have a lot of the

background that's necessary to help them when they get stuck,” Cook said.

Due to his limited experience, he is unable to help on the technical side, but does his best to make sure the experience is enjoyable for his

students and keep the club running until computer science teacher Benjamin Johnson is able to take over.

Despite his efforts to help, he's aware that they will need more help in the future.

“I just kind of manage and oversee everything,” Cook said. “But in the future, if we want to be successful, they just really need more

intervention from a teacher.”

Even though he lacks experience of the subject and his position is impermanent, Cook still does his best to make sure the students can enjoy

themselves.

“The reason I decided to take over was so that they didn't have to quit, and then, for me anyway, my only goal is just to have them have a good

experience this year and be able to do the things they wanted to,” Cook said.

The change of advisor has a major impact on the club and its participants.

“It has definitely changed the dynamic of it,” Bradley said. “Before, it used to be a really fun-to-be place, not that it’s not that anymore per se,

but it's definitely a lot more focused.”

The team has built their robot using what they have learned from the previous advisor, with their current advisor taking a more hands off, but

supportive approach.

“For the most part, the students, they can kind of handle it themselves, and I just kind of manage and oversee everything,” Cook said.

The club has faced adversity this semester, including the loss of their previous advisor, but they are working to overcome it, and with hard

work and dedication, they hope to continue to improve themselves and the creations they construct.