Dewey offers many clubs, welding their aspects/skills onto students to take into the real world. Even so, it can be difficult to choose one based on one’s own judgment & qualities they seek in a club. However, the one club that should be on everyone’s mind is the humble Robotics Club.
Although robotics, seemingly oriented towards the STEM students of Dewey, is open to all academies and students regardless of personal interest. More than just an after-school program, we aim to be all-inclusive and form relationships amongst one another in a team to learn, apply, and expand on concepts/practical skills that we have learned in life. We make all attempts to be seen alongside the light & elevated experience of the Dewey clubs but yet a handful of individuals acknowledge us for it.
“It’s the all-in-one-inclusive, it’s the #1 club at our school, because there are so many different students from all the different academies that participate in Robotics, & since everyone is welcome all the time” stated A.P of STEM & Art Academy Nancy Woods. “There are always new students joining & more teams are growing, and the number of teams which is competing”.
Speaking about the inclusivity nature of robotics, it is one of the goals that the Robotics Team wishes to continue, among many others. When it comes to Robotics, it knows no distinction between people and backgrounds; rather, we look towards the quality/incentives of an individual, and few will tell you about it.
“I would say that if you feel like you could commit yourself whilst also being able to manage your time well try to join if you want to learn new things and even get into competitions. While if you are in the stem field it would be quite beneficial… ” said junior Ayaan Ashraf “. . . try to work together with others a lot as it will help you develop teamwork skills that will be beneficial for later careers you may pursue.”.
As time progresses, it seems that Robotics club getting more relevant in the Dewey community as a whole. However, some fundamental misconceptions of Robotics persist.
“Robotics is about building robots no?, I don’t think I see much else going on in there” said senior Hamdan Yafie.
Regardless though there are adults who come in, more specifically our humble mentors & alumni who take time out of their day (not every day) to come to help us. No matter what they can lend a hand & not just physically. They are sometimes the team’s most trusted members in times of uncertainty & lack of direction. After all they were once Robotics members like us & have their own stories to share.
When asked “It’s rewarding to see you know from the start, we got nothing, you know we have to plan something since we don’t know the games about, we have to plan what our robots gonna be once we start figuring out what the game, how the game works.” said by Alumni Vincent Wong “That involves a lot of designing, prototyping, as well as just building the goddamn thing & after-wards when you finally get a finished product you feel good about yourself, cuz you know from 6 weeks, you start out with nothing & now you have something to play with”.
Overall their experiences are among all the great memories formed here at this unknown club. We work hard, play hard & make sure that we have our common goals reached whilst having fun. Being able to align with not just academic expectations but potential skills valued among the workforce. It isn’t just a Dewey experience, it’s a life experience.
“I know that through, you know, the design of the robot, you’re using engineering design practices, you’re using game design practices with the software & you using all those 21st Century Skills, you’re communicating um with each other, um you’re coming together as a team & the leader of each team, the driver, the software, everybody has a role,” said Nancy Woods, A.P of STEM & Art Academy
More than just an after-school experience, truly robotics aims to captivate the great minds inside far beyond a playing field & a bot. However, that is something unanimously agreed upon as robotics members but our Dewey community seems to think otherwise & thus should also realize this.. However, Mr. Dispenza is assured of the continued success of this club, after all, he has put his blood, sweat, and tears into it, and he’s not about to let that go without a fight. In his wisdom, Robotics is truly “more than just a robot”.
