FIRST and Foremost
with the team during the 2020 – 21 season at the height of the pandemic. Her son joined as an eighth grader while attending the Dorset School, and the unusual circumstances of remote learning pushed her family to look for opportunities outside of the classroom.“ We spent that whole year remote from school, and we had to look for things he could do remotely,” says Rutins. She adds that students met in garages and on Zoom to keep the spark alive.“ Nobody was sure how a robotics team would function in 2020 – 21. That year, the FTC competition itself ended up being remote. Teams played the game and submitted scores by video.”
Since then, the Machine Makers have found their footing. Burr & Burton Academy( BBA) provides space for their team meetings, giving them a reliable home base.“ The first year we were at BBA, Kevin Morrison, one of the robotics teachers, brought us in and gave us a closet to store our stuff,” Rutins says with a laugh.“ We would meet, work in the hallway, and then put everything back into the closet when we were done. Now we’ ve got a much more sustainable setup.”
For Rutins, the true value of FIRST is not just in the machines, but in the growth that students experience.“ Generally, the longer a kid has been in the program, the more confident they get. Putting together a robot, having the experience of doing that, seeing how it works, and then explaining how you built it to the judges is a big developmental step. They gain so much just from doing that, whether or not it actually scores any points in the game.” Every season, students brainstorm designs, experiment with different coding and engineering approaches, and learn from trial and error. Sometimes two or more developing prototypes for the same robot are built simultaneously by different
team members, just to see which idea works best.“ We encourage the ideation and following through on any idea that they want to actualize,” explains Rutins.“ Even if we’ re kind of scattered, they learn what the challenges are, how to overcome them, and how to accept that someone else’ s idea might work better. That’ s the emotional maturity part of it. That’ s‘ gracious professionalism.’” When asked about the Manchester Machine Makers’ robots for the current season, Rutins chose to offer a quirky, lighthearted reflection on the last season’ s robot instead:“ Last year, our team members worked on a robot that they named‘ Cordelia.’ Cordelia liked to say‘ quack.’”
The Machine Makers also embrace FIRST’ s theme of“ coopertition”— a buzzword that celebrates the blend of cooperative and competitive spirit. Early-season scrimmages often turn into collaborative problem-solving sessions, with teams lending each other parts, code, and advice.“ That’ s
Commercial & Residential Hospitality • Municipality • Banking & Healthcare Residence • School Campus
Managed IT Services Networks Security Services Audio / Visual
• Strategic IT Planning
• Server / Workstation Sales, Setup & Maintenance
• Microsoft 365 / Microsoft Azure
• Wi-Fi Specialists
• Routing, Switching & VPNs
• Point-To-Point & Point-To- Multi-Point Wireless
• Cabling & Fiber Optics
• 24 / 7 Endpoint Security Monitoring
• Advanced Cybersecurity Endpoint Detection & Response
• Onsite & Offsite Data Backup
• Commercial Audio
• LCD TV’ s & Mounting
• Sonos Sales & Installation
• Digital Signage
northshirenetworks. com 802-255-9989 sales @ northshirenetworks. com
50 manchester life | manchesterlifemagazine. com