GVSU, Alcoa Foundation support Fruitport FIRST Robotics team

As student teams gather to learn the details of this year’s FIRST Robotics competition on Saturday, a group of students from Fruitport High School will prepare to compete for the first time. The team is able to compete thanks to a grant from the Alcoa Foundation and academic support from Grand Valley State University.

“It seems as if we are good to go for the start of our season,” said Kathleen Steudle-Schwander, architecture and engineering teacher at Fruitport High School. “We are very excited yet nervous.”

GVSU and the Alcoa Foundation presented a $7,000 check to the FIRST Robotics team of Fruitport High Schoolduring a school board meeting for Fruitport Schools on November 28. The funding will help the team to pay its entry fees for the West Michigan regional competition and to purchase their materials kit.

High school teams from around the region will gather Saturday morning in Grand Valley’s Eberhard Center to hear what this year’s competition is. All will be revealed in a 10 a.m. satellite downlink from NASA officials in New Hampshire. The teams will be told what the robot they’re building has to do. Then they’ll have six weeks to design and build that robot using a standard materials kit. The teams will then compete in the West Michigan Regional Competition at Grand Valley on March 21-22.

MEDIA NOTE: Coverage of Saturday’s event is encouraged. It begins at 9:20 and culminates in the 10 a.m. NASA announcement on the second floor of GVSU’s Eberhard Center in downtown Grand Rapids. Afterward, teams will go into brainstorming sessions.

The funds allocated to the Fruitport FIRST Robotics team are a component of a three-year, $150,000 grant from the Alcoa Foundation to Grand Valley State University. The grant funds partnerships between Grand Valley and student teams at high schools in several local Howmet Communities. The teams participate in FIRST Robotics or Science Olympiad projects. Grand Valley’s role is in providing engineering graduate students to work with the high school teams to prepare for the robotics competition.

“The FIRST Robotics competition plays a key role in fostering an interest in technology careers for college-bound students,” said Amy Heisser, director of human resources at Alcoa Howmet Castings in Whitehall. “As Michigan’s industrial sector continues to revitalize itself, it’s appropriate and important for Alcoa Howmet to contribute financially to technological education in the communities we serve.” Alcoa Howmet's casting operation in Whitehall produces components for the aerospace and industrial gas turbine industries, and employs 2,700.

Paul Plotkowski, dean of the Seymour and Esther Padnos College of Engineering and Computing, noted that the future of Michigan’s economy begins with educating youths with a solid base in the sciences. "The Alcoa Foundation is noted for its national and even international focus. When you consider that, it's very significant that they are looking inside Michigan and investing in the future of Fruitport students," he said.

Grand Valley’s President Thomas J. Haas — a scientist himself — said he hopes the program will help ignite a passion for science.

“I hope the fun and sense of accomplishment these students will experience in the next few weeks will inspire them to pursue a career in science and technology,” said Haas. “We are experiencing a shortage of scientists and engineers both in Michigan and around the country, so the opportunities for these students are tremendous.”

FIRST Robotics helps students get hands-on experience solving real-world problems. They get to discover the excitement and rewards of science and technology careers. Since the program was founded in 1989, it has grown from 28 teams to more than 1,300. Statistics show that those students are significantly more likely to go to college, and they are twice as likely to major in science and engineering. And once they get to college, many will be able to take advantage of scholarships for FIRST participants. Grand Valley has one, as do nearly 70 other colleges and universities -- with a total of $8 million dollars in scholarships available nationwide.

FIRST founder Dean Kamen says his vision for the competition was to create a world where science and technology are celebrated, and where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes. The students work alongside mentors to bring their ideas to life.  The mentors are engineers and technicians who volunteer their time to inspire students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math, areas critical to the U.S.'s survival in the global economy.