PHOTO/ COURTESY CREATIVE COMMON

A new route has appeared on campus for students interested in engineering to prove themselves and even compete in global competitions in the coming years.
Seniors Vivek Patel and Arav Rawat have started a new robotics team to compete in the First Tech Challenge (FTC) — a highly competitive event with more than 82,000 participants.
Patel and Rawat, each from world-class FTC teams, experienced the rewarding atmosphere firsthand and wanted to bring that feeling to the school, where any Marksman could participate.
“Our plan is to build up the engineering program, as we already have the First Lego League (FLL) teams,” Patel said. “Not only could we establish a strong team this year, but we could also establish a system for future Marksmen who want to participate.”
The leaders are looking forward to the team’s first competition in October, and are currently educating newer members in the subject.
“Currently we have 10 members locked in and ready to go,” Patel said. “We have them come in after school as much as they can so we can teach them basic skills such as building, programming, and especially talking with other existing teams to gain a stronger foothold of what they are participating in.”
The team’s budget is an issue, as most FTC teams have an initial investment of around $5,000, with competitive teams budgets’ reaching up to $20,000.
“It’s going to be really tough since we aren’t allowed to get monetary sponsorships from any companies under our school’s policy,” Rawat said. “We’ll have to figure things out as we move along through the season. We did get a $1,000 grant, but right now we are just trying to spend as little as possible.”
Despite these challenges, the FTC team remains determined in accomplishing their goals.
“It’s about bringing access to the school, and being able to easily teach younger students about engineering and manufacturing,” Patel said. “We have a new science building and a new Makerspace with amazing machinery; we should bring as many students in to use it to its fullest potential.”