Laingsburg robotics club heads to states for the very first time

By Russell Shellberg

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    LAINGSBURG, Michigan (WSYM) — We all have a favorite hobby. But if you ask some students at Laingsburg High School what their favorite hobby is, they may have a different answer you might not expect, robotics.

The robotics club has quickly become a hit among some Laingsburg students.

“For me, robotics, I just fit in here,” said Soph Hughes, a freshman at Laingsburg High School. “I’ve always had an interest in tinkering with things, but I’m not really the biggest sports person or business or even an FFA person. I really just like to program and build stuff.”

“It’s a lot of STEM skills, and I think it just really helps with working in a group,” said junior Jaylei Kramer.

And those skills have paid off. This team from Laingsburg is gearing up for a robotics trip to the state competition for the very first time.

“We had to be in the top 60 in the state, and to put that into perspective, there are thousands of teams,” Kramer said.

But they couldn’t do it alone. Michael Danek, a long-time member of the Laingsburg Lions Club, and others stepped up to help fund the trip.

“The students get so much out of it that other extra curricular activities don’t offer,” said Danek. “They get competition, they get teamwork, they get management, they get fabrication, they get design, they get the ups and downs of competition. Laingsburg Lions Club has been able to donate major money to the robotics and other causes in town because we live in a very generous community.”

While the team is headed to states Wednesday to compete Thursday, the skills they have learned can take them much farther as well.

“I have a junior who can run a CNC and a plasma cutter,” said head mentor Melissa Kramer. “I have juniors and freshman who can program in java coding. Freshman that can read prints and do print layouts, and so it’s really all those STEM skills that are so important, especially as we look into the trades and the skilled trades specifically.”

Best of luck to all of those in attendance at the state competition.

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