Toms River Robotics Teams Take 5th, 8th At First Competition

TOMS RIVER, NJ -- Robotics club members at Toms River High Schools East and North have jumped in full force into competition just months after the clubs were started, taking part in the FIRST Tech Challenge recently at Hightstown High School in East Windsor.

Students from 34 districts and community organizations competed in the event on Jan. 31, building machines that had to be capable of avoiding obstacles, picking up and depositing cubes and whiffle balls, and climbing a bumpy ramp, all while being remotely controlled, according to Toms River school officials.

High School East’s Raiders Short Circuits placed 5th and High School North’s Iron Mariners ranked 8th out of 34 competing teams.

“Many teams begin at lower levels of competition, starting in middle school, but the staff and students at the two Toms River high schools were inspired to enter the fray after experiencing robotics at the 2015 Jersey Shore Makerfest,” Assistant Superintendent Marc Natanagara said.

“There’s a spirit of comradery and support in these competitions, and our students showed great sportsmanship,” said Tiffany Lucey, supervisor of Educational Technology. “I am blown away at how well they did with so little prep time.”

Makerfest, hosted by the Toms River district in October, was conceived by Natanagara and Lucey. It was a celebration of tinkering, teaching, science, engineering, arts and crafts that drew more than 4,000 participants and more than 100 makers, including Apple, Office Depot, Home Depot and schools and organizations from the tri-­state area and beyond, the district said.

Among them were robotics teams from the Jersey Shore Girl Scouts and Robbinsville High School, who shared what they do. With the support of the school board and Superintendent David Healy, Toms River teachers began offering technology clubs at each of the district’s 18 schools.

The high school tudents at East and North felt ready for the challenge of competition, and with seed money from the school board, teachers Cathy Applegate, Camie Corrado, Christopher Manolio, Walt Patelunas, and Suzanne Signorelli, along with mentors Kristin and CY Ramsey from the Jersey Shore Girl Scouts and Kyle Hart from NAVAIR, guided students in a month of building and testing their robots.

The FIRST Tech Challenge (FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a high-profile example of the district’s commitment to integrate STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) across the curriculum, Healy said.

“The board and community have supported focusing more than $5 million toward technology over the past five years, in both infrastructure and devices, to enable staff and students to have access to a world of resources,” Healy said. “Clubs and competitions inspire students beyond the classroom and provide authentic experiences that engage them with students from other districts, where they form relationships and learn from each other.”

The teams plan to use what they learned at Hightstown to improve their designs to meet the next challenge. They also intend to demonstrate their creations to younger students and at Makerfest II, scheduled for Oct. 15, 2016, in hopes of inspiring the next generation of builders. The district will be one of the official sites for NJ Makers Day on March 18 and 19. Students, including high school roboticists and elementary Google Cardboard makers, will share STEAM creations with the community in a new model Makerspace being built at Intermediate East.

North’s team is sponsored by Gino Sciorilli’s Ocean Salon Systems, and current and future teams will seek their own benefactors. Anyone interested in sponsorship may contact the schools.

(Photos via Toms River Regional School District)