In the inaugural year of East Grand Rapids High School’s Robotics team, the participants have worked countless hours to make their mark on the young program. The team, led by founder Oliver Vandenberg ‘16 and active participant Donny Marwin ‘17, were able to achieve not only their personal goals, but go beyond anyone else’s expectations by making it to the world competition at the Edward Jones dome in St. Louis, Missouri. 600 teams from around the globe attend the world competition who are  randomly split up into divisions of 75 teams each. Out of the 75 teams in East Grand Rapids High School’s division, they came in 52nd place, a high achievement for a first year team. Their success came from a meticulously designed robot, “that can lift itself up and is able to cross most obstacles,” Marwin said.

However, the road to the world competition wasn’t easy. Along the way the team faced adversity on several different occasions. “Our robot was down for five out of the ten games we were scheduled for due to a variety of issues such as wires getting worn down by moving parts or a tread falling off,” remarked Vandenberg.

Additionally, Vandenberg noted that they were in one of the toughest divisions in the contest. “We were also in the division that had the teams that went on to win the whole event,” Vandenberg said. “It was considered all around one of the two hardest divisions out of the eight.” Despite these challenges, the team was able to win the Rookie Inspiration Award due to the fact that the team did so well for its’ first year in the competition.

On top of the achievements that the Robotic Team accomplished this year, they also had a lot of fun along the way. In addition to their success in competition, some of the year’s highlights include hanging out with the team and attending the Scholarship Fair. Vandenberg summed up the general experience of the team recollecting “so many stories…that made it truly a remarkable experience.” “It was so much more than simply a robot competition,” Vandenberg explained.