Girls take an active role with their robotics teams Sept. 8 during the Goonette Robotics Invitational at Woodhaven High School.
Trenton TorqueNados team member Taryn Boller (left) and her mother, Sheryl Boller, participate Sept. 8 in the Goonette Robotics Invitational at Woodhaven High School.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
WOODHAVEN – Whether they’re wielding a wrench or steering a robot through a challenge, the Goonette Robotics Invitational plays an important part in encouraging girls to join their high school robotics teams.
The off-season event went international this year as it welcomed a team from Ontario for the two-day event, which was held Sept. 7 to 8 at Woodhaven High School in Brownstown Township.
FIRST Robotics Goon Squad team mentor and Goonettes Invitational coordinator Brandon Queen said the fourth annual event is the largest female FIRST Robotics off-season competition anywhere.
Queen said they find that high school boys tend to take the lead in STEM-based school clubs and programs just because that is the way things have been done in the past.
STEM refers to science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Melvindale High School Retro5ive team member Jimena Bermudez participates Sept. 8 during the Goonette Robotics Invitational at Woodhaven High School.
“For us, it is important to flip the status quo a little bit to push females into roles that maybe they don’t always have the opportunity to seek, or haven’t tried, or might not think they are interested in, and the reason that’s so important is that we can help bridge the very large gender gap in STEM,” Queen said. “It’s important for us to help close that gap or at least help students understand if that’s something that they’re interested in doing, pursuing STEM, and to give a safe space for them to participate.”
Queen said the team that traveled the farthest to reach the competition, driving more than seven hours, is from Carney, which is in the Upper Peninsula near Escanaba.
He said the Woodhaven High School robotics team and more than 60 volunteers put a lot of work into making the annual Goonette Invitational a success.
“To see the excitement on everyone’s faces, even after some long days, they are still so excited to be here,” Queen said. “They are so engaged, and it’s just inspiring for me to know that we did something really meaningful, and to look at this knowing that it’s a history-making event.”
He said they have cool, custom field elements made just for this event, they are well-branded and well-established, and they have companies and organizations onsite at the event to support their mission.
“It’s just really cool to see all the engagement and get all the positive feedback from everyone at this history-making event,” Queen said.
Third-year Trenton TorqueNados robotics team member Taryn Boller, 15, said robotics is inclusive and she loves the competitions.
“They really know how to include everyone on the team,” she said. “No one gets left out.”
She said she enjoys the experiences that being on the robotics team creates.
“Our team is a former state championship team, they are so inclusive and they really know how to make things fun,” Boller said.
Her mother, Sheryl Boller, said she loves the opportunity that the robotics team provides for her daughter.
“She is meeting kids of all ages, of all talents, of all backgrounds and she is learning a lot about robotics, about business, about how to run a team, how to make friends and how to compete,” she said. “There are so many skills that these kids are learning at these events, and I love that the Goonettes are here to encourage women into STEM careers.”
Woodhaven High School robotics volunteer and event leader Brandon Queen said the off-season Goonette Robotics Invitational is designed to encourage girls to take on more active design, drive team and leadership roles on their school robotics teams.
Melvindale High School junior and Retro5ive team member Jemina Bermudez said she joined the robotics team this year because she thought it would be interesting to try something new.
“I figured out that I really loved it and from there I started to learning,” she said.
Bermudez said she enjoys the bonds that she makes with the people on the build team.
“It’s overall a great environment,” she said. “It’s friendly and that’s what I love about it.”
Bermudez said she anticipates that she will use the knowledge she is gaining now in her future studies in college.
She said she encourages younger students to become more engaged in extra-curricular activities.
“I think it would be really good for them to help establish bonds and to be more together and unified,” Bermudez said.
Girls take an active role with their robotics teams Sept. 8 during the Goonette Robotics Invitational at Woodhaven High School.