La Salle has provided many programs to local elementary school Lot Whitcomb, including the Backpack Buddies program and Lasallian Ministry mentors, but now there is one more. The La Salle robotics team has set up an after school program allowing students to learn about and have fun with robots.

Junior Cameron Beillard paved the way for this new outreach to Lot Whitcomb.The program made its debut in 2015 when Cameron, with the help of teacher Mr. Heineck, set up one outreach last year. Due to its success last year the program has since expanded to have five outreach days in the 2015-2016 school year.

“I started the program with Lot Whitcomb last year as part of our effort to work with other schools and spread robotics,” junior Cameron Beillard said. “Hopefully it motivates [the students] to join robotics when they are in high school too, and even be engineers when they grow up.”

This is not the first time the La Salle robotics team has ventured to other schools. Originally the outreach occurred only with Christ the King, but through Cameron, the robotics team was able to expand the program to Lot Whitcomb.

Typically each outreach involves four or five team members who cater to around 25 students at Lot Whitcomb. Each outreach day is split into two, one hour long sessions, and each outreach day includes a new set of challenges for the kids.

“Our school owns 25 of the lego robotics kits… we will build partially built lego robots, and we will take them over to Lot Whitcomb and the kids will assemble the rest”, Mr. Heineck said. From there the kids can finish assembling robots, and then program them to perform tasks with the help of the robotics team members.

Lot Whitcomb’s after school programs are run by Metropolitan Family Services, a nonprofit who organizes and facilitates the after school programs at Lot Whitcomb. The students get to pick between the programs they are a part of, and five days after school this year, robotics was an available selection.

“We have been getting positive feedback,” Mr. Heineck said. “It’s about the kids having fun and being engaged.”

Although the last outreach to Lot Whitcomb took place on Tuesday, March 1st, it is not too late to get involved. Anyone can become a part of the robotics team and need only to contact Mr. Heineck ([email protected]) or Cameron Beillard ([email protected]) for details.

With the outreach now completed the robotics team has shifted its focus to upcoming competitions. This year the team has moved up to the FRC Division tournament. According to Mr. Heineck, La Salle recently received a $10,000 grant to grow the robotics program, making it possible for them to compete in this new division. The team will be competing from March 10th through March 12th, and at a second competition from March 29th through April 1st.

The program is a great way to meet new people and possibly find a new passion. The team is always looking for new members and Cameron says that “People should join [because] it is a really fun and exciting time”.