BRONZEVILLE — Members of the robotics team at Perspectives IIT Math and Science Academy, 3663 S. Wabash Ave., want to raise $10,000 through a GoFundMe page to buy parts and cover travel expenses.
So far, the Iron Wolves, as they call themselves, have received $1,150 in the last seven months.
The team’s instructor, Bill Yadron, said his students compete against schools that have invested thousands of dollars in machines and equipment. These other schools have enough funding to build two robots, one for competition and the other for practices. They can even afford to bring teams as large as 50 to events, whereas the Iron Wolves bring a “skeleton crew.”
The Iron Wolves can afford to build only one competitive robot, which usually comes from recycled or outdated parts of past robots, Yadron said. This limits practice time and limits the team's ability to make modifications and redesigns, which Yadron said is critical in the engineering process.
Robotics team tests their robot. [DNAinfo/Andrea V. Watson]
Next month, the team will compete in the “First Robotics Competition,” an international high school competition. Teams will have six weeks to build a game playing robot that weighs up to 120 pounds. They will be notified Jan. 7 on the specifics, including the theme and what obstacles there will be. The championship competition is in April in Houston.
Senior Mildred Burnett, 18, joined last year. The team could really use the extra funding, the Bronzeville resident said.
“It would be amazing if we could get to our goal,” she said. “We would have more parts and we would be able to go further in competition.”
Burnett said she loves being a part of the team, which she considers to be family. As one of the few girl members, she finds it “empowering” to compete. She also likes proving that African-American teens from the South Side can do well in the Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (STEM).
“It feels great to let all of Chicago know what we’re doing,” she said. “To see us at competition with an almost all-black team, that’s big.”
Team captain David Wells, 18, has been on the robotics team since freshman year. The Auburn Gresham resident said he joined not knowing anything, but his interest and knowledge quickly grew.
He has now decided to pursue robotics as a career.
“I want to do maybe eight years of college so I can get a Ph.d. and master’s in robotics,” Wells said. “I want to give back to the community by making bio medical prosthetics. I just want to help people.”
“Robotics is like my life,” he said.
The love he has for his team is strong, he said. They’re all dedicated and prove so by working after school daily and on weekends. As team captain it’s his job to give people tasks and help them grow. It’s a big job, he said, but one he enjoys.
“Before I leave I have to make sure I leave a legacy,” Wells said.
Jonathan Wells, left, and the team’s instructor Bill Yadron join the team after school. [DNAinfo/Andrea V. Watson]
His younger brother Jonathan Wells, 15, joined after watching him after school.
"It's really fun to see how people come together and build something from seemingly nothing.”
Robotics isn't for everyone, Wells said.
"It takes a lot of dedication," he said. "You can’t come into robotics with a negative attitude or thinking if you don’t know something you can’t do it. You have to be prepared to tackle any issue."
The school’s principal Brandy Woodard said she’s proud of the team and that she has strived to create a space where students can freely learn. She said the school doesn’t have the same resources as high schools like Northside College Prep and Walter Payton so she hopes people support the GoFundMe.
“Their competitors are from there and they have a lot of money so the materials they use is of a different caliber,” Woodard said. “The type of mentor support is different. Maybe some parents are engineers so they give back to the school by doing that. We don’t have that so we just want to get to a place where we can be competitive in a way our students feel proud and they feel like their work is on the same level as those other schools.”
Help the team reach its goal by making a donation through their GoFundMe.
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