The Robotics Club, home to both North and South students, has begun preparing for their upcoming competition season kicking off in January. According to Jeffrey Santrock, a mentor and former chemical engineer for GM, the Gearheads team is given a challenge that their robot must complete successfully. They rely on the robot’s practicality rather than prior knowledge of the challenge, just as they would in a real competition.

“What we try to do is anticipate what might be different components of the game and then use those as fun teaching tools,” said Santrock.
North student Allan Cooney ’25, has been involved with the club since he was a seventh grader. He said that this drill, with its hands-on experience, is an exciting way to bring in interested recruits.
“In a lot of science classes at school, you just learn about how the material applies to something,” Cooney said. “But in robotics, you get to take what you learn, apply it and watch it all actually come together.”