Mentor Christian Robotics team heads to nationals

Mentor Christian School competed for the very first time in the robotic regional competition held in Grove City, Pa., on Oct. 13-14.

“Twenty-two private, public and home school teams competed in many divisions,” said Principal, Frank Davis. “It was an exciting competition involving 33 preliminary rounds, three rounds of semifinals (eight teams), and three rounds of the finals (four teams). Our team made the finals and then went on to place third to be able to go onto the national competition in Fargo, North Dakota.”

Jonathan Bradford, the founder and head of the MCS Robotics team, said, “Our theme verse was Colossians 3:17. It says, ‘And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.’ My goals are to teach thinking skills, build character, and to have a good spirit of competition. We do not wish ill on any other, but we want to do our best for the Lord.”

Several parents and grandparents became coaches which allowed for the team to be very extensive. There were teams for marketing, building, and driving. There was even a team for shirt design.

“I could see the Lord’s hand guiding even in the building process,” Bradford said. “I wanted to use the spring loader for the catapult, but the students decided that the flicker method was a simpler method. That really was the key to our success. When we perfected it, it was so powerful that Matt (Goldfuss) asked, ‘Is this thing even legal?’ That is when we got really excited.”

On Oct. 13th, the marketing team “sold” the FERNO-643 to a panel of four judges. Luca Filippo said, “We were at the end of the marketing presentations, and the judges told us that we were one of the best presentations they had seen all day.”

On Oct. 14, the driving competition began. The theme of the competition was fire rescue.

“You had to build a robot that would save ‘Manny’ the mannequin, get the cans of dangerous chemicals out of the building, and then put out the ‘fire’ (plastic cups) with ‘water’ (plastic golf balls), stated Jacob Combs.

“The competition was very loud and very competitive,” said junior Brycen Hurst.

All teams got points for cheering. Some schools even brought their bands. The driving team all confessed that at first it was hard to drive and to concentrate with all of the noise; however, top scorer for the team, J.J. Ryan said, “The noise didn’t bother me. I was able to tune it out.”

The students are now preparing to head to nationals Nov. 28 to Dec. 1.

They are looking for sponsors to help send them on their way.

SUBMITTED

SUBMITTED