The robotics team is an award-winning group of people who dedicate a great deal of time and effort to support and participate in their team. They meet Tuesdays and Thursdays August to December and everyday from Jan. 6 to the end of the summer.
The team’s financial support comes from fundraising and donations from sponsors such as 3M, Stillwater Glass and Delta Modtech rather than school funds.
The team will compete Jan. 27, at the Da Vinci Fest and they will also compete in a world-wide competition later in the year. The team consists of college students and other high school students of all ages.
Kris Haugen was the former lead mentor on the team, who sadly passed away Jan. 12, 2023, due to brain cancer, leaving the team devastated. Physics teacher Chris Mentz, with students in college, stepped in and gave the team a sense of hope. Mentz wanted to get involved in something along with his day to day physics classes and had a great interest in leading the robotics team. He keeps everyone on track and provides the adult presence placing an emphasis on safety
“We’re trying to be better about safety in particular, and in the training associated with the safety, Just making sure that students who are using machines have been trained to use them safely,” Mentz said. He is helping the team to work together and to get a new robotics classroom to expand their work space.
Junior Jaxson Bluesky has a big dream and passion for the robotics team. Jaxson is a leader on the team and encourages many students to engage and help bring the team to nationals this year,
“It is an unparalleled experience; having hands on competition and interactions with manufacturing and building.” Bluesky said.
It is an unparalleled experience; having hands on competition and interactions with manufacturing and building.
— Jaxson Bluesky
The team has been around since 2007 and makes one robot each year. Their first robot was called Jeff. The robotics team will prepare for the Da Vinci Fest and continue building. The team has built many robots since 2007. A robot from 2019 had a wheel system that could intake cargo and score on the low and the mid-level rocketship and the front and top cargo ships. It was a semifinalist at the 10,000 Lakes Regional competition.
To join the team, students do not need any prior experience and there are many different ways you can participate on the team to help out. They have sub-teams that consist of electronics, business, programming and mechanical and each of the different teams has their own leader who will check in with their team.
The team has gone through many challenges in their season and has plans to have a huge comeback this season in honor of the former leader Kris. Current member Eddie Roots talks about the struggles with their lead mentor, friend and person they looked up to passing away and the impact on how the team is run.
“It’s been interesting trying to adapt to not having Kris around because he had been on the team for so long,” Roots said.
While the team has been very busy building their robots and overcoming challenges. They also have made life long friends and memories and skills that that will take with them for the rest of their life. Robotics team is a great way for student to come together and enjoy spending time others with the same interests.
Anna • Feb 6, 2024 at 8:59 am
I chose this article because I have heard about the robotics team and I wanted to learn more about it. It is cool to know the team has its own separate funding from businesses instead of the school funding. The writer Ava Aspengren did a good job informing and my questions before I read the article were answered by reading.
Cody Rasch • Feb 6, 2024 at 8:14 am
Loved the article! Although, when Kris had passed away Mentz did not step in immediately, so wouldn’t portray Mentz as savior to the team. Past alumni at the University of Minnesota did step in to help during the season following. So I think it would’ve been interesting if you dug a little deeper to uncover what really happened after the fact.