Kraxberger Gearheads Robotics Club is All About Community in Gladstone

GLADSTONE, OR – Support your community, give freely of yourself, and you will be rewarded –– a straightforward concept to be sure, but one that is fundamentally important to the success and growth of one small robotics club in western Clackamas County.

The sixth through eighth grade kids in the Kraxberger Gearheads Robotics Club at Walter L. Kraxberger Middle School in Gladstone take giving back to their city and its residents quite seriously, and for their efforts have seen an overwhelming show of community support, according to Gearheads coach Shawn Price.

"I wanted these kids to realize that investing in their community is a good thing," Price said of his coaching method. "It's so important. When we get out there it makes the community better."

For the 30 kids sporting Gearheads t-shirts, getting out there means going door-to-door through the neighborhood, collecting old, broken, and/or unused electronics, piggybacking on local community events (like the upcoming shred and drug drop-off event hosted by the city and Gladstone Police Department April 29), and –– when they can –– acting as amateur electronics technicians for their parents and neighbors.

One Gearhead, Price said, recently helped his mother change a lightbulb in her car dashboard –– just one example of how willing and surprisingly able a small group of 13-year-olds can be.

The Gearheads take part in roughly 40 outreach events annually, and currently have 43 sponsors supporting their club, Price said, adding that nearly 25 percent of the sponsors are individual families.

Along with some cash donations, sponsor contributions come in the form of broken down electronic devices that the Gearheads break down for parts and materials, which they can either use in their robotic creations or recycle for cash at local recycling centers, like R.S. Davis Recycling, Inc. and Universal Recycling Technologies in Clackamas.

Through e-recycling, the club has brought in about $5,000 to support the robotics program, Price said.

The club itself doesn't have a substantial budget, Price explained. So part of his mission as coach is to help the kids find creative ways to get the most out of what they do have and lean on their community and local businesses to help with the rest.

While it may seem thrifty, Price said it’s all about taking responsibility for the waste they produce and learning to make the most of what they’re given. Also, rather than beg and borrow for materials, Price and his two assistant mentors, Scotti Shaner and Misty DeGiulio, teach the Gearheads reciprocation –– giving their time through volunteering at the Rotary club's pancake breakfast or for the Gladstone parade –– to get what they need.

"I want to hold these kids to a higher standard," he said. And the students appear to be up to the challenge.

The inside one of the Gearheads' two robotics workshops at Kraxberger Middle School looks like an electronics recycling center: a literal wall of printers, flat screen TVs, computers, monitors, keyboards, cell phones, hard drives, CD-ROMs, and circuitry –– all collected from the Gladstone community –– provide the Gearheads with most all they need to build their competition robots.

They salvage roughly 95 percent of what they receive, Price said. And what they can't salvage for parts they get from other local tech companies through trade and volunteer agreements. MCAM Northwest in Oregon City is one of those companies.

According to MCAM sales representative Garrett Dias, MCAM technicians guide and counsel the Gearheads, helping them manufacture the robotics parts the kids design.

"Invested kids, invested parents, invested community –– with those three things you're firing on all cylinders," Price said. "If it wasn't for the community, we wouldn’t succeed."

Upcoming Gearheads events:

• April 22: Sherwood Forest neighborhood door-to-door e-drive from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
  
• April 29: City of Gladstone, Gladstone Police Department Shred-it/Drug Drop-off/e-drive from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 535 Portland Ave.
  
• May 6: Gladstone Repair Fair from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Gladstone Senior Center, 1050 Portland Ave.

The Gearheads, as a certified robotics club authorized by FIRST Tech Challenge, are required to give a specified amount of time to the club each week. Many of the Gearheads, however, go above and beyond that requirement, Price said.

"These kids –– my 30-minion army –– have enriched our lives," he said, referring to himself and his wife Kelley, who also helps with coaching. "They like to help out and be invested. I’ve learned so much."

For Price, the club has become less about the robotics competitions (for which the Gearheads have never gone further than state-level) and more about the journey getting there –– the community/team-building that inherently comes with working together toward a common goal. And with nine open slots expected on next year's team, Price is looking for more students willing to make that extra effort part of their everyday lives.

Photo Courtesy: Shawn Price, Kraxberger Gearheads Robotics Club