Redwood Robotics Update

9/17/2022 1:27 pm

We have seen tremendous growth in the RMS Robotics club in the past few years. To meet the high demand, we have increased the number of VEX Robotics competition teams. In addition, Redwood parents started the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) Robotics program last year. Despite the addition of more VEX Robotics teams and the initiation of FTC Robotics, we are unable to accommodate all interested students.
The FTC program is run solely by parents and is committed to making it a success. We would love to accommodate all interested children, but unfortunately there are many constraints including:

  1. Lack of space, no rooms available at RMS

  2. Recommended team size is 4-8 to ensure all students get hands-on experience

  3. Both FTC and VEX Clubs are at max capacity of 8 teams each

  4. Only one teacher coach to supervise both programs with ~180 students 

FTC club increased participation from 35 last year to 56 this year with 29 randomly selected students out of 54 new interests. The link for the FTC interest form was sent out to the parents of incoming 6th graders across all elementary schools and current Redwood students towards the end of May 2022. The list was open until the beginning of this school year.
We sincerely regret informing you that registration for Redwood Robotics is closed for 2022-2023.
 If you are still interested in Robotics for your child, we recommend like-minded parents to join and start Community Teams. These online resources are great to help you get started:

 

There is an exception for new-to-district students who were ineligible to participate in the Redwood Robotics’s Rookie Training program this summer. More information about our rookie training program will be sent out to new-to-district students. 
Our intention is to keep students engaged in STEM by providing outreach events during the school year. We encourage your students to apply to Redwood Robotics next Spring. Please look for the Robotics interest form in the RMS communications newsletter in late-May. 
Once again, we regret not having the capacity to take all interested students into the club this year. We are continuing to work with PTA to explore how to make robotics available to everyone at RMS. We can be reached at rmsftcrobotics@saratogausd.org. 

 

Thank you for your interest and support of STEM.