By: Supriya Sachdeva
Houston, Texas. Every single year. The Syosset Supersonics, Team 9016, has been to Worlds for the past three years since they’ve been founded. It is a robotics team that takes part of the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics Competition. FIRST was a program founded by Dean Kamen in 1989 and was created to inspire the younger generation to pursue their interests in the STEM field. FIRST has three different levels, FLL (FIRST Lego League), FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge), and FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition), all of which our very own Syosset district incorporates into their curriculum. Each team takes time out from their busy season to promote STEM all throughout different communities.
Team 9016, Syosset High School’s FRC team aims to “bring the world of STEM to underserved groups and nurture a future closely related to STEM,” said senior and co-outreach head Ivan Kwok. Senior President of the Robotics Club, Anjali Sinha, said, “Outreach relates to our goals by helping influence young students to not only become interested in technology, but also join our program. We are able to share what we love with our community, a top priority of ours.” Just in the past 2-3 months, the Syosset Supersonics have managed to accomplish so much. These accomplishments include volunteering at summer camps to teach robotics, picking up trash at Jones Beach, promoting STEM at the Stony Brook Maker Faire (where people of all ages got to drive the robot), fundraising for Tikkun Olam Makers while participating in the school’s annual Relay For Life, and even visiting a senior citizen home to teach them about the world of technology. Specifically, when it comes to promoting to the newer generation, Ivan said, “Our team feels the need to bring these stem activities to the kids for them to find their passions earlier on the life. This gives them time to develop their passions and focus in on things that they really like so that when they move on in life they aren’t confused on what they want to do in the future.”
In the near future the team has planned many more events. They plan on going to more fairs, visiting all seven Syosset elementary schools to teach a robotics course, host a Women in Stem Seminar, help a local Girl Scouts team gain their badges, and even mentor a fellow FRC team in Canada. Senior Eliot Bih said, “We’re continuing to bring our robotics workshops to the elementary schools, mentorship to the middle school FLL teams, and we’re working on expanding to other districts on Long Island to share our experiences with schools that aren’t as fortunate as us here in Syosset.”
Team 9016 really works hard to reach out, not just in the classroom but beyond. Eliot said, “FIRST Robotics has strived to emphasize the importance of bringing each other up and “coopertition” even as competitors. It’s especially important for students in Syosset to recognize how fortunate we are to have so much support from the school and community, in terms of both permission support and financial support, and that in good faith we have a responsibility to take advantage of our position and give back.”
