Oak Creek High School’s Robotics Earns Major Award

OAK CREEK, WI — Oak Creek High School’s Round Table Robotics joined more than 400 high school robotics teams from around the world at the annual First World Championships in Detroit.

After the four-day competition, Round Table Robotics was honored to receive the Entrepreneurship Award. This award, given to just three of 400 teams, recognizes teams who embrace the entrepreneurial spirit and demonstrate the critical planning and business skills necessary to ensure a self-sustaining program.

Since the season began in January, developing an accurate and concise business plan had been a top priority for the team. Their plan highlighted the team’s efforts to build their community through activities like creating First Lego League Jr. teams for elementary students, hosting a First Lego League Regional competition, and Hunger Task Force Farmbot, all in addition to designing, fabricating and programming a robot to compete in this year’s robot game, Destination: Deep Space.

The team secured a spot at the First World Championships after earning several awards at both the Northern Lights Regional and Wisconsin Regional competitions, including the NASA-sponsored Regional Engineering Inspiration Award which covered the team’s $5,000 World Championship entry fee.

Under the guidance of parent and sponsor mentors, students get real-life, hands-on experiences, like creating the team website, crafting a business plan, and using machinery to create custom parts for the robot.

“Without our mentors, the students would have the ideas, the passion, and the ambition to reach our goals but we wouldn't have the guidance we really need to turn our team's dreams into reality,” junior Mya Mendola said.

“Round Table Robotics goal is to prepare students for life outside of high school and that would not be made possible without the unrelenting dedication of our mentors," junior Erin Marshall said.