A local after school club got a much needed financial boost recently and they are pretty excited about it.
The South Shore Robotics Club was the February winner of a $1,000 grant from the Awesome Foundation South Shore and they put that money towards buying a 3D printer.
The Flash Forge Creator Pro Dual Extruder 3D Printer is the first of its kind in the school system and opens up a lot of possibilities for the club.
Byron Butt, a technology instructional coach for the South Shore Regional School Board, leads the club at Bridgewater Junior High School and says that the kids will practice using the printer before looking at models they can use. They have been working on underwater robots and the printer will enable students to make parts.
Grade 8 students at BJHS Sophie Weir,14, Parker Doggett,13, Noah Churchill,14, and Duncan Boyd,13, can’t wait to get started using the printer.
“It’s going to be pretty awesome actually having a printer that works. The other ones we can’t really do much with so Byron said we will actually be able to make the robot work now,” said Sophie.
Parkview senior students John Davies,15, and Renkee Roy,15, were in attendance at the announcement of the winner and were very surprised when they discovered the club had won. They had told Butt they were sure they weren’t going to win because the adults had such good pitches that would benefit the community.
Davies said that the printer will give them the freedom to custom make pieces as the LEGO system they use means some of the pieces are quite limited.
“We were grateful to win and the kids are quite excited. It was a confidence boost for students who don’t get a chance to do pitches like this very often. Public speaking is something that is hard for a lot of people but they got up in front of strangers and did such a good job,” said Butt.
He said that the win benefits all students who come to the club and have an interest and a passion for making,creating and robotics.
