Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

With graduation on the horizon, three seniors, Brecken Koepke, Ty Youlden and Julissa Munos, are ready to finish out the year strong by competing in the VEX Robotics World Championship in Dallas, Texas, in early May. Their coaches, Kaylene Jensen and Rosalyn Chmelik, couldn’t be more proud.

“[It was] a huge honor they were invited to participate at this level,” Jensen said. “It really fills my cup to be connected with such dedicated, hardworking students here in the community.”

The team consists of four members, Koepke, Youlden, Munos and freshman Aaron Zeferino.

The team plans to leave for Dallas on May 4 and return on May 9. They are going to drive to Dallas, Jensen said, because flying and making separate arrangements to transport the robot gets to be complicated and can potentially cause damage to the robot. Jensen also said she is hoping to set up a fun send-off drive for the team so the community can show their support. More details will be released closer to the event.

At the competition, teams are paired up with another team to compete against a set of two other teams. The pairings are not known beforehand, so students must consider many different components such as what strategies the opposing teams might use and how they can best collaborate with the team they are paired with to achieve success. Teams from all over the world participate.

The highest-achieving teams then get the opportunity to compete in the next round of competitions in “the Dome,” at the Dallas Convention Center.

In addition to engineering, the team also said being in robotics has improved their communication skills with each other and the public.

“Talking is a way bigger part of it than anyone would realize, public speaking too,” Koepke said. “I can’t tell you the amount of times we’ve had to get up in front of a large group of people and talk or say something.”

He added that while being interviewed by judges about the robot’s design, programming and strategy, he has learned to explain the process quickly and concisely because otherwise he could talk about robots for hours.

Jensen said she brought Koepke and Youlden to the world competition when they were freshmen and promised them that if they made it to the Dome as seniors, she would take the team out to eat in a limo. They reminded her of it this year, and Jensen said their high expectations suggest she may have to make good on that promise.

Broken Zip Ties, Jensen said, has received a lot of support from both the school district and the community this year.

One way the school district has stepped up is in providing funding for new equipment. The team was able to purchase a new drill press, bandsaw, belt sander and other tools needed to build the robots.

Riverland Community College has also lent a hand by letting the team meet and practice in one of the campus classrooms. Previously, the team had set up in various spaces in Southwest Middle School. Hosting the team at Riverland has been much easier because they can leave everything out without having to worry about their equipment getting in the way for other students, Jensen said.

Likewise, businesses in the community, including the Union Center, the Moose Lodge, Lou-Rich, Home Depot and the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce also worked with the team regularly to provide financial support.

“We really want to make this a program that any student can be a part of, not based on if they can afford it,” Jensen said.

Jensen said the team’s greatest strength is their ability to communicate with each other. There is really a family atmosphere, she said, and that allows them to work very cohesively.

“They are very fluid in their workpath. They can communicate quickly, easily, efficiently. We don’t have shut down or disconnect when they’re working together,” she said.

She also said she has been very impressed with Zeferino’s skills this year as the only freshman.

“His engineering notebook far surpasses what I would expect from a ninth-grader. He’s had a lot of mentoring and guidance from Ty and Brecken because of their experience on the team,” Jensen said.

Since he will not graduate for three more years, Zeferino will soon get the chance to show what he has learned to younger students who join next year.

Jensen said another strength the team has is their true passion and drive for robotics.

They ask for more practice time and would come in to work every day if they could, said Chmelik.

For now, they are focussed on doing the best they can for the competition in a few weeks.

“I’m really excited because we’re seniors and it’s our last year. It’s kind of like this excited-sad,” said Koepke. “Like you’re excited for this big event, but you’re sad it’s the last event ever.”