SALYERSVILLE – A robotics expo was held at the Magoffin County High School on Tuesday, April 23, featuring the robotics teams from Magoffin County schools, including the group heading to a national competition next month.
Andrew Oliver, the head coach of the county’s robotics program told Mortimer Media Group, “Last season was really a spring board to really grow the program in the county. From that season last year, we’ve had two elementary teams get started, and expanded the program to include the high school, so it really was just a growth that came out of it all the sudden, and it’s exciting to see that. It’s easy to get super excited about it because you see these kids coming together and doing these things and succeeding in it, having fund, making relations, getting these skills and it’s great to see. We want to see it grow even more. There’s opportunities to get South Magoffin involved and there’s also opportunities to get even younger kids in the First Explorer program and get them started, introducing them to coding and getting them problem solving – all those skills that they can build upon as they advance through all these levels of First Robotics.”
Just this season, the MC Master Crafters team won at regionals, won Robot Games, securing first place in core values and first place overall grand champions for the second year in a row. Those wins took them to state, where they got the innovation award and third place overall. North Magoffin Elementary’s and Salyersville Grade School’s teams both advanced to state, as well, with SGS getting second at the regionals and NME getting fourth, and both getting awards at state. The MC Master Crafters will also be traveling to New Jersey next month for their second appearance at nationals.
“We’re going back to Jersey for the national invitational, and we’re really excited about that,” Oliver said. “I told the kids, ‘Since we’re going back, we might as well just win.’ They all agreed, so we’ve been working on our robot and our code. There’s a little over 500 points possible and we’re trying to get at least 500 points. We were shooting for 300 at regionals and state, so we’re trying to up the game and go for 500 points on the board.”
Coach Jerica Conley explained that placing fourth place at the state competition among many collegiate schools and private academies was mind blowing for them last year, and now they’ve placed third at state and going back nationals in Jersey City, in New Jersey.
Among all of the awards this still-new team has already won in just two short years, which is absolutely astounding, Coach Andrew Oliver has also been awarded the Coaches Mentor Award both years, voted on by the students. These kids are building, operating, and writing code to make the robots they create do amazing things. As awe-inspiring all that is, it’s not the biggest part of the story, as these children are getting valuable, life-changing experience you might not expect.
“I can see that it’s been life-changing for them,” Conley said. “Just for them to be able to talk about it is unbelievable, because a lot of them talk about how they were shy – they were kind of in a shell. But now, they are able to go and talk to anybody. Not even just from around here, but when we go to the national competition, they go and speak to anybody. They come home with phone numbers and they’re text friends with other teammates from other states and across the world. They have so much confidence in themselves and I also think that it’s really cool that they are already thinking about their future. They know these skills are going to help them in going to college, or whatever they decide to do for work, job interviews. It has been life-changing and it’s also special because I had a lot these kids in third grade and I know the ones that were really shy and did not like to speak. To watch them seventh grade, eighth grade and now Freshman year, it has been life-changing for them and it’s been life-changing for me just to see it happen.”
“A lot of code and a lot of building,” Sophomore Bryce Salyer said, with another student chiming in, “It’s a lot of trial and error.”
“The main thing is we just use the basic tutorial that FT provided on their website and we used that tutorial to build a base model, and then we actually added this and it’s what allowed us to hang,” he said, explaining how they added more to their robot that would allow it to hang from a bar, which the students said shocked other teams at state since it is a difficult process.
“It helps with social skills and scholarships, and that really helped me a lot,” Salyer told the audience. “I got to talk with a bunch of people from Craft Academy and I actually applied and got in.”
Eighth-grader Tiffany Hoskins said, “Before robotics, I loved public speaking and after my experience with robotics, I still love public speaking. I’ve grown within this characteristic of myself and, while doing that, I’ve developed some new skills, such as with robotics, coding, learning from the boys here. I couldn’t have done it without them. Making memories of a lifetime and continuing to do so. It really does mean a lot to me, to my school, to this county and to the state, and as a matter of fact, to this nation, to have our youth, my friends, out here making a difference. It’s not just me. It’s them. It’s us as a team, and that’s why I’m here today. I’m very honored and I couldn’t have done this without my coaches, either.”
Aaron Oliver, also an eighth grader, said, “When I first started I was fresh out of another school district and didn’t know anybody, didn’t have any friends and I was shy, and Ms. Conley came to me and said, ‘Hey we’re starting a robotics team. Would you like to be on it?’ I said, ‘Sure, sounds fun.’ Figured it was something to do in the evenings instead of sit around and do nothing and that is what really helped me come out of my shell. Without the robotics program, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
MCHS Freshman Collin Martin said, “I was the same way – really shy and never wanting to talk to anybody – and I definitely wouldn’t have been friends with these guys and it’s really helped me a lot.”
When you hear young people talk like that, it begs the question: why?
“Honestly, I think it’s because of the competitions,” Conley said. “The competitions are so encouraging. They are not your typical competition where you’re out to get the other team. They are ‘what can I do to help this team do as well as me?’ Yeah, winning is a plus, but what you get, the way you feel when you leave, is just remarkable. I’ve seen that just going to watch competitions and now I see it through the kids. They’re just like, ‘How can I help? How can I help this team? Do you think that team needs something?’ I think that’s a part of it. We have kids that are in all different types of things. We have kids who maybe don’t have something that they’re super interested in, and now they do with robotics, and also kids who do everything, so I truly think it’s the competition and just the gracious professionalism. They have something called ‘coopertition,’ where you cooperate, but also have competition, but it’s a friendly competition.”
The MC Master Crafters will be traveling to New Jersey and New York City for nationals on May 17 through 20, so this April 23 event at the high school also served as their send off to state!
