TOWAMENCIN – The North Penn Montco Robotics Team proved in a recent competition that it is about much more than just building robots. Besides spending countless hours building and programming its robot, the team also spends ample time and dedication reaching out to the community by inspiring children and younger students to succeed in engineering.

The Robotics Team, otherwise known as the Gearaffes, competed in the MAR District event at Hatboro-Horsham High School in late February into early March. Among many other teams, the Gearaffe’s excellence certainly stood out to the judges, who nominated and selected the team for the Rookie Inspiration Award. As quoted by the certificate, this award “celebrates a rookie team for outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering and engineers in their community.”

The Gearaffes, a joint venture between North Penn High School and North Montco Technical Career Center,  have put forth time and dedication to earn this honorable award, doing exactly as its description stated. With much enthusiasm, the team worked hard to inspire children to learn more about robotics through various classes last summer, and they will continue to spread their interest in robotics to children this upcoming summer, as well.

“We plan on going to the Boys and Girls Club,” said team member Bryan Moed, a sophomore at North Penn High School. The Boys and Girls Club is an organization that works to provide opportunities to young children in need, and the Gearaffes hope to teach these children the basic knowledge of engineering to open new doors for the future. “We’re going to teach them Scratch, and we’re going to have some type of robot platform that they’re going to plan and experiment with.”

Scratch is a free online programming system founded at MIT in which young people may learn the basics of programming and coding by creating fun animations, games and interactive stories. Teaching children these skills and allowing them to apply such skills to a robot platform will provide them with experience that will boost their advances in robotics, engineering and related topics throughout high school, college, and their careers.

“We hope to have a summer camp at North Montco too,” said Moed. “It would be fourth and fifth graders, teaching them the same basics of robotics. It’s a good way to help the community.”

Besides sparking interest in robotics in children while their minds are so open and keen to learn about new technology, the team’s award also helps them branch out into their own robotics community.

“As a rookie it’s important that we get known by the other teams throughout the year. We want to work well with other teams so we get chosen later on in the competition, and this is a really good way to get our name recognized,” said Moed.

A team that is ready to succeed and eager to expand, the Gearaffes welcome all new members for next year’s season. The team’s co-president Todd Fluck encourages everyone to join, for participating in the club results in skill, experience, and the joy of contributing to the community, and there is surely a place for everyone.

“The club is a great way to earn work experience. It’s important that we work together well so that we can succeed. It works like a business, and we handle a lot of money, so we definitely would love some students in business to join our team,” said Fluck. “It’s a little late in the season, but we’d love for more people to join next year. We meet three or four times a week, but new members can come once a week and get a feel for it. There’s more than building the robot. There’s a lot of business and programming involved too so usually we can find a place in the club for anyone.”

The judges also commented on the team’s effort to inspire and recruit others, hence the name of the award the team they received.

“Although a newbie, this team is spreading interest in STEM in their schools. Boys and girls alike are learning to SCRATCH their way through programming. With a summer robotics camp planned, this team is Gearing up for the future.”

The Gearaffes’ desire to expand the study of engineering to their fellow peers in addition to the children at their camps and classes and the rest of the community truly proves how deserving they are of this reward. The members of the Gearaffes will advance scientific fields through their own work and through their generous contributions to the community.