More than 20 sixth through eighth graders come to school early Thursday mornings for Derby Middle Schools Robotics Club.

The club started in November and had its first competition on Jan. 21 at Hesston High School.

For being the first middle school to compete in a high school competition, the team came home with a Sportsmanship Award.

Dave Brown, Project Lead the Way instructor at the middle school, saw the interest his students had in his automation and robotics class.

We didnt finish first, but we didnt finish last, Brown said.

They competed against 28 high school teams and had little time to prepare. They won two out of their seven matches and placed 25th overall.

Mentors for the club are professional engineers.

Kenya McConico from The Pando Initiative reached out to Spirit AeroSystems to see if its employees would be interested in mentoring students in the club.

Jeremy James, stress engineer at Spirit, is one of the four volunteers that come to the school every Thursday morning.

James received an email about the club at work, and he saw it as an opportunity to give back to the community.

I like helping the kids out and seeing their interest, James said.

As far as Brown knows, this is the only middle school robotics team in the area. Students dont pay anything to participate in the club, but the biggest challenge for Brown is raising money so it can stay that way. As of now, the club is borrowing a robotics field from Derby North Middle School, but DNMS plans to start a team next year.

Brown said he envisions the middle school team as a training ground for Derby High Schools team.

Their first meet behind them, students have their eyes set on the state robotics competition on March 4.

Seventh grader Laci Simon said that the first meet was overwhelming because they had 25 people in one team and most teams had three people per team.

We were rushed a lot, Simon said.

The club will have two teams of 12 compete at state, but Brown said he does not have enough equipment to make the teams any smaller. He would prefer having six students per team, but he would need enough materials to make four robots.

Now that there are two smaller teams, seventh grader Alexis Silva said it is easier for her to participate.

At first, I didnt touch the robot because there were all the guys around it, and they were arguing a lot so I was stuck making posters and signs, Silva said.

Now, Silva is in charge of building the scissor lift.

When they grow up, Silva and Simon both want to have jobs where they use science and math to build things.

Brown said the teams are taking baby steps and continue to do their best with what they have.

Simon said her goal for state is to win at least half of the matches.

Although students learn a lot from competing against high school teams, they wish they could level the playing field.

We want other middle school teams to have robotics clubs so we can go against people our same age, Silva said.

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Derby Middle School robotics club competes at high school competition - The Derby Informer