The St. Clair County 4-H program is set to expand on its robotic presence by hosting a one of a kind off season robotics competition. While 4-H has long had a reputation of being an agricultural organization, its programs extend into areas such as sciences and technology as well, with the St Clair County 4-H developing a program that has excelled in robotics with teams competing in multiple levels of FIRST Robotics.
The new event, which has been dubbed, the Robotics Rodeo, will take place on Saturday, July 25, at the St Clair County 4-H and Youth Fair. Dawn Nowicki, robotics leader for 4-H, says that from her experience and conversation with other robotics leaders, this event fills a void in the learning cycle that often happens during the summer and makes it difficult get young people back into robotics during the fall.
Fair President Rob Usakowski the group is “excited about the Robotics Rodeo.” He acknowledged that with such a large scale event, the fair group “will need to make some changes” to logistically accommodate the new competition, but there are plans in place to do so.
The competition will be limited to 28 teams. Teams interested in participating should contact Dawn Nowicki or the 4H office.
Reporting for WGRT, Karly Hurley.
