The two Columbia High School Robotics teams. (Photo courtesy of Kathleen Kuperman)
For the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic, 26 robotics teams from around the state will converge on the Columbia High School Cafeteria on Saturday, January 11, for a competitive meet hosted by the CHS Robotics.
Competing for CHS Robotics are two teams — an 11th/12th grade and a 9th/10th grade team. Both teams have received the High Match Score at previous meets this year and the 9th/10th grade team came within four points of beating a nationally ranked team, said Suzanne Falk, the new CHS Robotics Club adviser.
Falk has been at CHS for nearly two years and, she said, this year she “jumped in to help because the kids needed an adviser” — and she’s learned a lot from the teams in the process.
“I love technology, but I’m an English teacher,” Ms. Falk said. “Before being the advisor, I had an idea about robotics, now I know everything about it.”
Falk said the Robotics Club is grown a lot as a team this year.
“We’ve got good synergy,” she said. “I can’t describe what a wonderful team we have. They’ve grown so much, from individuals into a wonderful team.”
Falk said the Saturday’s meet runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Members of CHS Robotics Club are looking forward to competing on their home turf again and hoping spectators will come out and support them, Falk said.
Except for the pandemic era, the CHS Robotics Club has had a long and successful history, including going to the state championships in 2020, right before the pandemic.
The Robotics team began at CHS in 2010, and a year later it came in second place at the 2011 FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship Tournament in St. Louis, Missouri.
A member of the team works on a robot. (Photo courtesy of Kathleen Kuperman)
CHS Robotics team members with their robot. (Photo Courtesy of Kathleen Kuperman)
