p U g n i l e v Le
MCINTOSH LAW FIRM’S YOUNG LEADERS
Pine Lake Prep Robotics Team SPORK by Allison Futterman photography courtesy of Pine Lake Prep
Pine Lake Prep’s robotics Team “SPORK” stands for “Students Providing Outreach and Robotic Kinship.” And they most definitely live up to their name. The team competes in an international high school robotics competition known as the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC). Coral Riley, a computer science teacher at Pine Lake Prep is the team’s coach. Although Riley is an integral part of the team, she focuses on student leadership, teamwork, and accomplishments of the students. “My job is to make sure they have a support system, but our team is totally student driven,” Riley says. “They design and fabricate all the robot parts, they build it electronically and mechanically, and they program it.” They also manage all aspects of the team—including finances and social media. They serve as mentors to or the lower school’s team, 26
LAKE NORMAN CURRENTS | MAY 2022
which competes in the FIRST Lego League (FLL) challenge. “Just like I’m the coach for the FRC team, they’re like the coaches for the FLL,” says Riley. Team SPORK wouldn’t be able to compete so successfully without the assistance of 14 invaluable mentors who help with engineering and operations. Participation on the team has opened doors and created opportunities for alumni members, including internships at Tesla and NASA. And approximately 90 percent go on to careers in STEM. Current team captain Amanda Foess has been accepted to Stanford University. She credits her experience with Team Spork, along with her other STEM and computer science studies at Pine Lake Prep for opening “a variety of opportunities including a leadership and cyber security internship the summer between my
