The Most Unlikely Story Of Potential World Champions

Students from Traverse City's Greenspire High School will be competing at the First Robotics World level competition in Houston -- if they can raise the funds.

The $20,000 they need might seem like a lot of money – and it is – but raising it is no more unlikely than the team actually qualifying for the Worlds in its first year of competition. In fact, it has already raised more than $18,000 through its GoFundMe campaign.

“First Robotics is meant to be inspiring,” says Roderick MacNeil, the lead mentor for the program. He says the program at Greenspire started with a visit from Quarkmine, the Traverse City tech outfit that offers competitions and camps to students interested in robotics. “That got us excited.”

That “us” included MacNeil, as he was enticed to take a lead role at the school. The science teacher at Greenspire says his expertise was centered around biology and life sciences, so the program helped him step outside his comfort zone. Greenspire’s teaching efforts are based around environmental and project-based learning, which he says connects with First Robotics’ traits and goals.

The Greenspire High School Steel Sturgeons Robotics Team, FRC 9176, initially qualified for the First in Michigan State competition. Though eliminated in Match 12 of the semifinals, the team qualified for worlds, one of 86 teams in Michigan to do so. Quite a leap for the charter school of 124 students in grades 9-11. Its team of 13 makes up more than 10 percent of the student body.

Gail Alpert is president of First in Michigan, the organization that oversees the First Robotics Competition across the state. She says while other first-year teams qualify, that’s typically based on their potential for the future. Greenspire advanced based on its competitive merit.

It’s unusual for a first-year participant to be able to compete at that level. Alpert says that makes Greenspire’s achievements all the more noteworthy. “They’re so inspiring,” she says.

Nicki Klama, the mother of a team member, has taken on a role of mentor in the area of marketing and fundraising. She says the team and its mentors went into the program without a lot of background knowledge. “We didn’t know what we didn’t know,” she says.

Students are given six weeks to design and build their robots, then six more weeks in which they can compete with other schools. Each year the competition features a new challenge, which can include everything from picking up an object to cooperating with other teams in a challenge together. “It’s a timed event,” says Klama. “The first 30 seconds it (the robot) has to do something autonomous – balance, pick up something. After 30 seconds the human driver takes over.”

Greenspire’s first competition was at Traverse City Central, where the team came in 12th among 40 schools. The next week it went to Lake Superior State University, where it came in second among 40 teams. That qualified it for the state competition, held last week at Saginaw Valley State University with 160 teams. Greenspire came in 13th in its division, qualifying it for Worlds.

Several other schools from the region also qualified, including Traverse City Central, Traverse City West, St. Francis, Suttons Bay and Glen Lake. Overall, 86 teams from Michigan qualified for the World Championship competition. Alpert says that number is the based on an apportionment of the total number of teams for each state. Michigan has over 480 First teams. California has the second-most with around 200 teams.

Alpert credits the last two state administrations for providing support, including grant funding for schools that participate. She says former Governor Snyder attended a competition a decade ago and was so enthused he wanted to get it in every school. The Whitmer administration has been similarly supportive.

Alpert notes the program includes many facets of STEAM learning: technology, marketing, finance. “It functions like a small startup,” she says.

MacNeil agrees, noting that not only are the students hands-on with the construction of the robot, but in every aspect of the process. “It’s building, but it’s branding, design, business, management, scheduling,” he says.

Another first for First at the school: MacNeil says the program is Greenspire’s first team of any kind, ever. The high school is in just its second year of existence, and next year plans to expand to grade 12 and hopefully around 180 students. “The team concept has been absent in our students’ lives. This goes beyond sports (teams),” he notes, as not every student is athletic. “There’s a niche for every type of student. It leads to people feeling wanted.”

And he’s hopeful this is just the beginning. “We plan on more next year. More students, getting into the community more.”