Caleb – Robotics Club Interview

By Anna Sadarangani and Leo Watt

Why do you think the robotics club is an important addition to our school?

It really supplies kids with a lot of opportunities that they otherwise would not have, such as learning to market oneself as well as hands on [learning]. Also, I think it's a great opportunity to put [our learning] into the real world.

Why should students join their robotics club?

Because it's fun. Well, first of all, it's awesome. We get to build stuff that's sweet, you know. People should join because it's a great learning opportunity and it's just a lot of fun.

What's your favorite part of the club?

Honestly my favorite part is building stuff and I get to work with a lot of cool parts that I've never seen before. I get to learn a lot of cool topics; you know that I otherwise would not have.

What does an average year look like in robotics?

Around early March we go to Victoria for a competition where we compete against other team's robots in a game. But before that there's a lot of things that go into it. We have to organize ourselves, recruit people, and teach them. And that usually goes from the start of the year until January, and then after winter break we get told what the challenge for that year's competition is going to be. From there we have a limited amount of time to build a robot, which we use to compete at the competition, and that would be a typical robotics year for us.

What was the competition like last year?

It was very stressful. All the work that we put in and all the parts that we had to deal with, every single thing that could have gone wrong went wrong, and you couldn't just put something to the side because we had such a limited amount of time. Many things didn't work, and every single second that we weren't actually competing we were trying to fix something or make something work, so it was very stressful. But it was a lot of fun, and it was a great learning opportunity to show that it is not a good idea to put things off. Yeah, so time management.

How has this club impacted you personally?

Many kids have used the robotics club as a great opportunity to find people with like minds and common interests. But for me the most important thing is it's been something to commit to, having a schedule, having something to work for. We manage many different aspects and are able to create a cohesive working system.

Why was the club originally started?

I think it was originally started by a student a few years ago as a means to get more hands-on experience. They had seen a lack of that experience throughout the school, and wanted to create a place for students to really dive into these topics that they were so interested in.

What experience or knowledge have you gained as part of?

I’ve learned a lot. I've learned how to market myself, how to talk professionally with other people, how to talk to the younger kids who may be more nervous, and all of these things are skills that I've learned in the robotics club that had nothing to do with building an actual robot. Obviously, there's the skills, really applied skills, like how to wire, how to program, and how to solder metal together. So yeah, so I think there's a lot of skills that I've learned.

What would you say to somebody who was thinking about joining the club?

I would say totally, totally join. And if you come for the first year but it's not your thing, you don't have to. You don't have to pay- it's free, and we want everyone to come. We want people to learn so I would say 100% join. Try it out, see how it is, how it fits you.