Takes 2nd Place
(Courtesy Photo)
Red Thunder Robotics, combined with girls from Corunna’s Fridgebot Robotics, finished in the second place alliance at the Grand Rapids Girls Robotics event at Wyoming High School. The Wolfpack’s Jaylei Kramer was one of four $750 scholarship winners.
“Our girls, along with the Fridgebots, performed admirably, especially since they are so young,” said Melissa Kramer, co-head mentor for Red Thunder Robotics. “Having the Fridgebot girls was great, as we’ve partnered with them at last year’s girls event in West Bloomfield.”
This year, Red Thunder Robotics was paired up with teams – 5176 from Marysville, 858 from Wyoming and 3875 from East Kentwood. They were seeded in the fourth alliance, but took down the top alliance, but eventually lost in the finals to the second alliance in a tiebreaker, by only two points.
The event featured a Women in STEM panel, which all the girls took part in. During the event, only the girls and female mentors could drive, operate, repair and even move the robot from the pits to the field.
“This was a great opportunity for the girls to get the full aspect of the competition, as only a few have been drivers and operators during our history – the guys tend to want to drive,” added Paul Garrett, team founder and head mentor. “We brought two rookie teams of drivers and they knocked it out of the park. We’re so proud of them.”
The guys, who also attended, were tasked with team spirit, photography and video and scouting the other teams for final alliance selection.
“Bringing the opportunity of STEM to Laingsburg K-12 this year has been a huge boost for our program,” added Garrett. “In the first year outside of a high school team, we’ve added 4 FIRST Lego League teams and one middle school team. The overall program is roughly 40-percent girls. At the high school level, 75-percent of our leadership team are women.”
To help support Red Thunder Robotics and Wolfpack robotics through sponsorships or donations visit wolfpack-robotics.com or team7166.com.
