MIDDLEBURG HEIGHTS, Ohio – With controllers in hand and victory in mind, middle school robotics enthusiasts competed at Polaris Career Center’s second annual Polaris Palooza! held at Strongsville Middle School.
Student teams from Berea-Midpark, Brooklyn, Fairview Park, North Olmsted, Olmsted Falls and Strongsville brought robots they designed and built specifically to vie for awards in the Dragster, Mad Grab and Drone Technology events.
The competition took place on March 16 and showcased the knowledge students gained through their Project Lead the Way STEM classes.
The Berea-Midpark Middle School seventh-grade robotics team competed at Polaris Palooza! on March 16. At right is team adviser Dr. Ryan McElyea. (Beth Mlady/Special to cleveland.com)
Event coordinator and Strongsville Middle School teacher Megan Gasparro was constantly on the move to keep the contest on schedule. The event truly was a well-oiled machine.
“The best part is seeing all the smiling faces,” Gasparro said. “Even if something goes wrong, they’re problem solving and being resilient to fix it. And they’re having fun.”
Berea-Midpark Middle School seventh-grader Smaran Kootagao won second place in the Dragster competition. The premise of the race was to see whose robot could travel the farthest in 3 seconds. His robot went nearly 98 feet.
“I really liked creating the drag racer itself,” Kootagao said, noting he tested 11 designs before arriving at the final version. “The best part is finally seeing how well your car does. It’s really fun.”
Team adviser Dr. Ryan McElyea said he helped the students communicate and collaborate as they built their robots. He encouraged them to consider other team members’ ideas when solving problems.
“These seventh-graders loved building with the robotics and learning how the different mechanisms work, but also how to program the different devices to do what they do,” McElyea said.
Middle school robotics teams from Berea-Midpark, Brooklyn, Fairview Park, North Olmsted, Olmsted Falls and Strongsville competed at Polaris Palooza! on March 16 at Strongsville Middle School. (Beth Mlady/Special to cleveland.com)
Diane Xander, director of pupil personnel and satellite programming at Polaris Career Center, said the event aligned well with getting students to consider their future careers.
“We are all about engaging middle schoolers so they can start thinking about their abilities, what they like, what they want to do and applying that into high school,” Xander said. “This is a pathway for them to continue on with the engineering programs at the high school.”
It was obvious to anyone in attendance that the students had a good time. A robot named Bernard was a particular crowd favorite.
“The most important thing is the students are having fun because that’s when learning happens,” Xander said.
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