Every Warren County student starting in fifth grade has the opportunity to help build and operate a robot.

It’s not a special event or a once-only program. Robotics have become a regular and growing part of education in Warren County.

After-school robotics clubs and classes that touch on engineering and computer programming have been established for years at Warrenton and Wright City high schools. Similar programs are becoming available to younger students, a sign of the growing importance of technology in modern life.

Beside learning a host of transferable skills, students who move on to jobs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) are likely to earn more money. STEM occupations are some of the fastest growing career fields, and earn 29 percent higher wages than non-STEM jobs, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Local students participating in robotics programs say the activities provide a real application of what they are learning in STEM classes.

“It gives you hands-on experience with working with robots and engineering, which you can apply later on if you go into a STEM career field,” said Wright City senior Chloe Hall, who helps lead the school’s robotics club.

The club builds and programs robots that are used in seasonal competitions. Every year the robots are challenged to perform different tasks, so students have to design and build new machines to match each challenge.

Learning to design and build the robots reinforces what students learn in special classes Wright City and Warren County schools have adopted under the umbrella of Project Lead the Way. It’s a nationwide educational program designed to teach engineering and computer science skills.

Hall explained that what students learn in those classes directly aligns with what they are doing after school at the robotics club.

“It’s all about coming up with concepts, testing out prototypes, developing solutions and seeing what you can fix if it didn’t work, and just continuously building in order to make the idea better,” she said.

Math teacher Andrew Schwartz, the faculty sponsor for the club, said a major trend in education is for schools to become more focused on STEM fields, especially engineering.

“A lot of our core curriculum has the science classes and the mathematics classes, but we’re getting into the engineering and tech side of it as well,” Schwartz said. “And the best way to learn is by doing.”

Fifteen minutes away at Warrenton High School, students regularly meet to explore the same concepts in a competitive robotics club of their own. Faculty sponsor and science teacher Christina Zibart agrees that robotics and STEM education are growing in importance.

Robotics used to be something students started learning about in college. Now it has become an option for high school education, although there isn’t yet a class here specifically for robotics. Some students are being introduced even sooner than high school.

“The rapid expansion of technology makes it a necessity to bring it in at a younger age,” Zibart said. 

The Warrenton robotics club hosts classes at the Scenic Regional Library once a month. The high school students teach children as young as fifth grade how to build robots from kits and control them with a smart phone app. 

It’s mostly a fun activity for the younger students, but behind the play is a glimpse at real possibility. One of the robots built at this November’s class was a miniature, remote-controlled forklift, for example.

Zibart said she hopes the activities will create interest among the young students and encourage them to become more involved in robotics programs as they get older.

There also is  a small 4-H robotics club organized through the University of Missouri Extension in Warren County.

Many skills

The students in robotics programs are learning more than how to build the machines. Every robot needs a computer program to operate. The coding language, Java, that students are learning to program competition robots with, is also used in real-world robotics along with millions of computer programs and phone apps.

Warrenton club president, senior Ben Chilson, said he and several other students plan to pursue a career in software engineering, computer science and cybersecurity. 

Wright City sophomore Katie Mazella, who practices coding as part of her school’s robotics club, also said the club improves presentation and public speaking skills. She said students have to be able to explain how their robots work and why they made certain design decisions to people who are unfamiliar.

Some club members at both schools are engaged in marketing and public outreach as much as robotics itself. Community businesses and organizations have become valuable partners for the robotics programs. Donations and sponsorships can provide more opportunities for the students, so they have to learn to engage with community members.

Zibart said the community has been very supportive of Warrenton’s robotics program, especially local businesses that value engineering skills. 

Of course, more support for any of the school or community robotics programs is always welcome.

Warrenton High School students Vincent Schutte, Ronald Martin and William Teroy build robots in the workshop dedicated to the high school's robotics club, Nov. 2. The more complicated robots require knowledge of both programming and engineering. Record photo/Adam Rollins.

Michael Teroy and Bryce Barrow, seen at left and center, worked together to put together a small, remote-controlled fork lift robot Nov. 20 at the library in Warrenton. They were guided by high school student Vincent Schutte, seen at right. The library hosts monthly robotics classes. Record photo/Adam Rollins.

Chloe Hall, pictured at right, shows Marion Kuntz how to attach a wheel to a custom-built robot. Hall and Kuntz are members of Wright City High School's robotics club. Record photo/Adam Rollins.

Katie Mazella, a student at Wright City High School, observes as a robot moves through an automated series of movements that she programmed. The school's robotics club builds competition robots that have both automated and remote control functions. Record photo/Adam Rollins.