Robotics engineers broaden horizons for students
PASADENA — Josh Sooknanan always loved building things, but his interest in engineering really took off when he joined a high school robotics team in Virginia.
Thirteen years later, he’s a robotics engineer at NASA and paying back the FIRST Robotics program as a mentor for the Pasadena Independent School District Team 231, High Voltage.
“It helped me a lot in college,” Sooknanan said. “Everything you learn in your freshman and sophomore year in engineering college is what you learn in a FIRST Robotics competition.”
Students in Pasadena don’t have the advantages of Sooknanan’s high school. Almost 90 percent are economically disadvantaged, and most of their parents did not attend college. Many have never left Texas. Preparing these students for higher education is one of the toughest challenges public schools face.
In Part 2 of my series on how companies can make a difference in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, the High Voltage team proves that students can overcome difficult hurdles with a little outside help.
“A lot of the students we have in this district don’t think there is anything outside of this district, or outside of Pasadena,” said David Scarcella, the team’s coach, who teaches at the Career and Technical Center. “If I can expose them to engineers and have them talk to these kids, the mentors will show them what’s out there.”
FIRST Robotics was started by MIT Professor Woodie Flowers and Segway inventor Dean
“There’s something about seeing some scrap metal becoming a robot that we built specifically for a game.” Brandon Norman, student
Kamen in 1989. Today, more than 3,600 high school teams are competing around the world to reach the international championship in Houston April 18-21.
The High Voltage team draws on six high schools and includes 45 students who routinely participate. They meet three nights a week and every Saturday and hold fundraisers in the spring. But they also rely on support from local companies, like Oceaneering, which provides engineering services to the offshore drilling industry and NASA.
“We couldn’t do this without Oceaneering,” Scarcella said. “Not only do they give us financial support and some of the equipment, the engineers come on their own time.”
Monica Visinsky, an engineer with Oceaneering Space Systems, has volunteered her time for 20 years to help kids get excited about her profession.
“When I see a young man, a freshman, light up on game reveal day, contribute a unique pneumatic suction idea for a gripper, and work to get that implemented into a successful design feature of our robot, I feel more enthusiastic about my own work,” she said. “When I see a young woman get inspired to learn how to work the mill and the lathe, I feel inspired to learn more as well.”
Joana Anaya, a 17-year-old junior, said her father encouraged her to join the team just as her older sister and brother did.
“We’re working on gearboxes right now. It’s kind of difficult, but when you get it together it’s a relief — it’s exciting that you made that,” she told me.
Anaya said participating in the team made a difference with her siblings. Her sister recently graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in urban planning, and her brother works in a nearby refinery.
“My brother was a bit of a bad boy, but working on the team taught him some responsibility and guided him onto the right path,” she added.
Learning to think independently to solve problems is the most important lesson students learn, Sooknanan said.
“The hardest part is in the early part of the competition, trying to get the freshmen and sophomores to be confident in themselves, to attack these problems and not wait for someone to show them the answer,” he said. “We have to get these kids used to making mistakes, to accept that they are going to make mistakes and learning how to deal with them quickly.”
Sooknanan can tell whether one of his collegiate interns at NASA participated in FIRST Robotics.
“They come into the intern program, and in terms of engineering they are not as headstrong, they don’t have an ego that is that fragile,” he added.
Brandon Norman, a 16-yearold junior, plans to attend the University of Texas at San Antonio and follow Sooknanan to NASA.
“There’s something about seeing some scrap metal becoming a robot that we built specifically for a game,” he said. “I get to add it onto my résumé and portfolio, and I hope having the extra years of engineering, as well as the robots, will help me.”
The Pasadena team is consistently one of the top performers because engineers and their employers donate equipment and their time to help these kids see the endless possibilities that a STEM education offers. All of the team’s graduating seniors last year were accepted to either a two-year of a four-year college, Scarcella said.
FIRST is spreading to more schools every year, and next week I’ll report on a rookie team at Houston’s Yates High School.