Most students have a hard time juggling school by itself. Add an extracurricular spanning 10 to 50 hours a week after school and it seems almost impossible. The robotics team has proven that while it is ambitious, it isn’t unthinkable.

The beginning of January marks the kickoff of the FIRST Robotics Competition which is a 6-week program with an ongoing goal to get kids involved in science and technology by creating a robot that will win an activity against other teams.

In order for students to participate in building the robot, practices are offered after school Monday through Friday from 2:30 until 4 pm and Monday through Thursday from 6:30 until 10:30 pm. There is also practice on Saturdays from 9-3 pm and on days off school during whatever times are available.

Starting his third year as a programmer, Josh Stueck, junior, believes that while grades are difficult to keep up, it’s more daily life that changes.

“It’s definitely a struggle,” said Stueck. “You are a lot busier for the 6 weeks [during build season] than any other time of the year.”

Coach Deitzler has been coaching the team at U. City since last year and believes it is the students’ job to manage their time.

“Students are responsible for keeping up with their homework and maintaining good grades,” said Deitzler. “I know it’s a challenge but team members are able to do it.”

Because robotics is a varsity level activity, students are required to attend 80% of practices and maintain a high “C” GPA throughout robotics season until the competition in March.

Gordon Stuvland, freshman, was introduced to robotics in middle school with FIRST Lego League, a robotics team for fourth through eighth grade. While Stuvland agrees that robotics is definitely intense, he thinks that the team is pretty laid back and flexible.

“It’s not like a sport,” said Stuvland. “You don’t have to be there for every practice, even though it’s important.”

According to Coach Dietzler, it will always take a lot of work to prepare for the competition and wouldn’t be possible without local sponsors like Boeing and Ranken Technical College. The upperclassmen on the team believe the combined years of participation has made it easier this year.

Walter Deitzler, senior, began his robotics career in seventh grade. Now team captain, Deitzler feels like the team is more ready for the competition than last year.

“We have a lot more experience this year,” said Deitzler. “I feel like we are more prepared.”
Stueck agrees.

“Last year we lost all of our seniors so we were trying to figure stuff out,” said