text: SVRTC 2013 FIRST Robotics – SVRTC
  SVRTC 2013 FIRST Robotics
  Barbara Scott Robotics 2013-03-07 2019-01-10
  The SVRTC is fortunate to have several school divisions that participate in annual FIRST Robotics programs. Some place year-long emphasis on the programs and some dive in to the 6-week builds every January. Team 1413 of Mecklenburg county participated in this year's FRC competition held at the Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. Their robot, Skrappy, faired well during the 3 day event and finished 4th out of 55 teams attending the event. They went on to compete in quarter-final rounds.
  FIRST Robotics is being used to stimulate high school student's interest in STEM related fields and encompasses areas of programming, electrical, electronics, pneumatics, vision, and mechanical. Working with mentors from a variety of disciplines allows the students to learn from the people with lots of experience in leadership, engineering, and more. The atmosphere is family-like, with students working side-by-side with retired naval officers, university professors, engineers and others.
  For many years the SVRTC and Longwood's ITTIP have promoted STEM and application oriented learning using concepts like computational sciences and blended learning. Today, we're beginning to see the results of these ideas coming to life as teachers from different disciplines are beginning to collaborate in the development of curriculums. It's great to see math, science, and physics teachers interacting.