Coldwater group continues to grow

COLDWATER - A robotics program that started in the district's middle school has expanded to the high school.

"Three years ago, Coldwater took a chance to take on a FIRST LEGO League team," co-coach and Mercer County Community Development Director Jared Ebbing said.

In 2016, a second middle school LEGO team was added. Also last year, the seven-member We Will Block You advanced to the Ohio FIRST LEGO League Championship at Wright State University's Nutter Center.

Not wanting to break up the team in which they had invested so much, the members - last year a combination of seventh- and eight-graders - decided to maintain the core and make the jump to the more advanced First Tech Challenge.

"Some of the eighth-graders were aged out. They're (now) freshmen. You cannot do LEGO League anymore," Ebbing said. "So all of the kids said, 'You know what? We don't want to split the team up. (Let's) all go to the high school."

The decision led to the birth of the school's first FTC team, consisting mostly of eighth-graders and a few freshmen who compete against other teams made up mostly of sophomores, juniors and seniors, some with scruffy facial hair, Ebbing pointed out.

"Because when these kids age out, what's next?" Ebbing said about the move to expand to FTC. "You don't want to say, 'hey, good job in middle school. We have nothing for you in high school.' "

FTC takes robot building and programming to a new level, building upon basic robotic premises.

"With the other program … we learned a lot of the skills that we still need in FTC, like problem-solving, how to work as a team," FTC member and eighth-grader Ashlyn Koester said.

Instead of applying elementary concepts with plastic blocks, FTC members are tapping into advanced programming and using heavy-duty sensors, brackets, motors and metal pieces.

"Going from that to this is a big change," FTC member and eighth-grader Tanner Muhlenkamp said.

The kids took a crash course in JAVA programming.

"They learned in a month what some kids take a whole class-year, and they didn't learn it from a teacher - they went online, on YouTube and forums and figured out how to use programming," Ebbing noted.

"You would see this if you would go to Crown (Equipment Corp.) or Coldwater Machine," FTC student Austin Ebbing pointed out.

The students, who meet several times a week before school, also were tasked with coming up with a budget and fundraising plan, Muhlenkamp said. On their own, they ended up securing $10,000 to start up the program and buy materials with a $1,500 grant from Midwest Electric and $8,500 from other local businesses.

"They rode their bikes to businesses before school," Ebbing proudly pointed out about the students' precociousness.

The Coldwater team took part in its first FTC competition this month in Tipp City, placing 13th out of 24 teams. Ebbing was ecstatic with the results, considering most team members are much younger than their competitors. The team also took home the Judges Award for the best-rounded program, he noted.

"The judges liked what they heard. They liked their business plan. They liked that they're so engaged with the community that they rode their bikes to companies … to get this going at the high school level," Ebbing said.

The kids are working on ways to improve their robot - such as strengthening one of its pulley systems - before another competition Jan. 19-20 in Van Wert.

Coldwater Exempted Village Schools Superintendent Jason Wood said the program would not be possible without the parent volunteers who oversee the team and the business community for their time, talents and resources.

Meanwhile, the middle school's two LEGO League teams - made up of students in 5-8 grades - continue to make impressive strides.

"We had so much interest from kids we had enough to field two full teams," Ebbing said.

"It's another thing that kids can get involved in and to find interest in," middle school principal Dan Pohlman said, noting the league provides a fun arena for academic competition.

The LEGO Legends team, which is advancing to the district competition in Bowling Green on Jan. 13, recently gave a presentation to county soil and water officials.

In addition to creating and programing robots, the teams also must create a project related to hydrodynamics.

"The rest of it's kind of like 4-H," Ebbing said. "They research a project. It's life skills. They're learning how to work together, solve problems together, research things, present. You can tell we have them trained pretty well because they shake everybody's hand. We try to get them to look people in the eyes."

The students aren't seeking just glory; they're serving as ambassadors for the middle school's science, technology, engineering and math program, Ebbing has emphasized over the last few years.

"A lot of things that go along with this is teaching kids how to problem solve, how to work collectively together and how to come up with various solutions and not be afraid, sometimes, to fail to get a good end result, which is a real-world issue," Wood said about the schools' overall STEM curriculum.

School officials said the robotics program is here to stay at Coldwater. They also noted that Parkway and Marion Local schools also have robotics teams.

"We look to build upon what we've already established and kind of grow the program every year," Wood told the newspaper.