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All right, we're back here at Vex Worlds. So we're back with Team 3017K. Now, you have a very interesting story. At Vex, we like to talk about teams giving back or teams paying it forward. And you had a great story about mentoring some younger teams younger than you. So why don't you go ahead and get started and talk about that.

Okay, so I'm originally from Arizona. I'm from a rural community, and we didn't have a lot of robotics. Actually, when I first moved to Oregon a couple of years ago, I'm brand new. Oh. You're fine. I'm brand new to the whole Vex Robotics. The whole ecosystem, yeah. Everything. And so when I joined, there was a senior boy in my robotics, and he was actually trying to start a club at the elementary school. Excellent. And I saw this, and I was like, "Oh my gosh. I didn't even know elementary school robotics existed." Sure. I wanna help with that.

So I started helping him, volunteering, but he took over the whole thing and made sure that next year I would take over it 'cause he saw how much passion I had for it. And so I took over it. And so this year, I chose 25 kids. They had to do applications for it. 'Cause unfortunately, we aren't able to grab all of the materials and helpers. Sure, sure. And so this year, we had applications. And so 20, we had over 40 applications, but we can only accept 25, which I was really sad about. But we had to do it.

And what ages were the students? Oh, they were fifth and sixth graders. Fifth and sixth grade, so Vex IQ obviously. Yeah, Vex IQ. Tremendous. And how was their season, how did they do? They have a lot of fun? Yeah, so we had them this year not compete. Actually, first semester was just doing stations of them learning about robotics. Oh, that's terrific. That is very unique. That's awesome. So we had them do homemade pneumatic claws. We had them do practice sketches. We had them drive our robot. So they really enjoyed that. Nice. That is terrific. That's terrific.

And then this semester, I actually created up a Vex game, and so they created a robot for that game, and so. Future member of the game design committee? Yes, yes, yes. And so their showcase with all the parents and teachers are gonna be May 4th, and so when they come back, I'm gonna prepare for that. And I'm really excited.

So anyone else doing any mentoring? So Kaylee does elementary, and actually Levi and Caleb do the middle school robotics. Okay. I kind of wanna branch out, and I wanted to do chemistry. I've always been really passionate about chemistry. I'm actually going into chemical engineering. Okay. So I started to make a chemistry club for middle schoolers because we have so many awesome opportunities at the high school for like chemistry and anatomy and engineering that a lot of kids aren't exposed to 'cause in middle school a lot of them just think that science is just kind of a class they have to take. It's really boring, you know. They're reading out of a textbook a lot.

So I really wanted to just make a club that could actually show 'em the fun parts. Yeah. So I do so like something practical, you know. I teach an actual lesson, but then every club you can actually do a lab that actually shows the practical use, how science can actually be fun. So I'm really trying to show them that this can be their future. You know, they can have a really fun, exciting experience in a STEM field. Yeah, that's really fantastic to see how you're in a robotics club. You saw how Vex Robotics clubs can be passed down to younger students, but you were passionate about chemistry, so you were able to do that also. That is absolutely fantastic, that's fun.

Anything else we want to share? I actually as well run a science club at the elementary school. It's not just science, it's more just all aspects of STEM. And so I started off just doing homeschooled kids.

Thank you for sharing your inspiring stories and for all the work you're doing to mentor the next generation. It's truly commendable.

We wish you all the best in your future endeavors and hope to see more amazing contributions from you in the STEM community.

So I would just go ahead and reach out and offer meetings and teach lessons to kids who did not have the opportunities of being able to get into robotics clubs or into any STEM-related activities. So what I did after that was go ahead and branch out to more than just homeschool. 'Cause I had interest in other schools besides just our district. So now I go ahead and branch to all elementary schools who are underserved, who don't really get the same education of STEM as we do, or as other schools do as well.

So like I've done driving robotics, like robots. So like we took our robots from me that we built and we went and drove them around to get them interested in robotics. And I've also done flight simulators to get them interested in like other aspects of engineering, so aerospace. And then I actually have a meeting like next week, and it's gonna be on 3D printing. So we'll learn how to CAD and we even go to key chains.

That is absolutely wonderful, that's amazing. Anything else mentoring? I teach and manage the middle school robotics program. I started it and went to it because when I started out with robotics, I did not know how to program and I was lost, distracted with like trying to learn. I couldn't like focus on the building. And I wanted to reach out to the middle schoolers so they will have a stronger start. Four out of the five of the teams actually made it to state this year. They did really well. Congratulations.

It's really heartwarming to hear your passion being paid forward with some of the other schools in the district or students in other districts. It's a really, really amazing story. So thank you for that. You're a wonderful team. If others want to follow you, they would go to? Have an Instagram and a YouTube page. Our YouTube is just 3017K. And our Instagram. It's 3017K_girlbosses_randr.

(students giggle)

Thank you very much. Good luck at worlds. And thank you for watching. We'll see you again soon.

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