student spotlight
By Juliana Colant
Granting Growth Robotics club expands STEM education
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And teamwork is especially important to the Digital Eagles when the competition season starts each year in January. The Digital Eagles’ season comes to a head during the FIRST Robotics Competition (For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). At an annual kickoff event, the competition organization announces a game design prompt. Teams then have six weeks to build a robot based on that game prompt. The Digital Eagles’ participation in the competition helped to establish an ongoing relationship with New Albany’s Facebook Data Center. In 2019, the Eagles had exhausted club funds by the time it had qualified for the world championship. When Facebook Data Center employees caught wind of it, they donated enough money through the center to send the Digital Eagles to the world stage.
The following year, the robotics team and NAHS as a whole applied for a Facebook Community Action Grant, which funds projects that use technology to better communities and further STEM education there. NAHS and the team were awarded the grant, which had a significant impact on the robotics program. Because the club receives no school funds, members must rely on fundraisers, sponsorships and grants, such as the Facebook Community Action Grant, to survive. Before the grant, the team was using five-year-old equipment for its projects. Thanks to the grant, the Digital Eagles doubled their number of robots and upgraded the ones they already had. The curriculum was able to expand, allowing for four different robotic platforms, or design schemes, to be used instead of only one. In 2021, the Facebook Community Action Grant again expanded its impact www.healthynewalbanymagazine.com
Photos courtesy of the NAHS Robotics Team
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he New Albany High School robotics team, also known as the Digital Eagles, is an example of innovative thought – and not just in competitions. The group has excelled in competitions while also bringing in grants and attracting students to STEM. The robotics club works yearround, kicking off every school year with fundraising and recruiting. It offers club members hands-on STEM learning as well as general skills like teamwork and social skills. Pranav Chitiveli, a sophomore at New Albany High School and robotics team member, says the team has given him valuable skills he’ll use in life beyond high school. “We have learned a lot of skills that apply to the 21st century workforce: working as a team, being confident with my work, time and project management, and how to work with different groups of people,” he says.
The 2020-21 New Albany robotics club adapted to pandemic guidelines, redesigned its meeting space and built a new robot.
