SGS Students Win 2 Awards At 4-H Robotics Showcase
The SGS Robo-Rebels, 4 teams of students from St. Gilbert Catholic School in Grayslake, recently won 2 awards at the 5th annual 4-H Lake & McHenry County Robotics Showcase "Meet the Enviro-Bots" on Saturday, April 21st, 2018. The competition included 30 teams from Lake and McHenry County middle schools showcasing robots, programming, and presentations on ways to improve the environment.
The awards were presented at McGee Middle School in Round Lake. The St. Gilbert team "MIA & Friends " including Addie Biegel, Izzy Bing, Mihika Odak, Aiden Camasosa, Theo Dolson, and Jack Lapidus won "Best Robot Design", while team "Spooderman Squad" consisting of Jack Calhoun, Griffin Gillespie, Jonah Rosales, Liam Halloran & Natalie Panoja took home "Best Project" The 4-H event concluded an 8 month journey of robotics for the St. Gilbert teams.
"I felt like I was part of a team that operated like a robot; everything had to work the right way in order to reach success. I learned about teamwork.." said Sam Judd, SGS 6th grader.
Added 5th grader Mihika Odak, "Being in the SGS Robotics Club definitely made me feel part of a team because I learned about other people and how to work with them. I learned how to program. I liked building the robots."
Robo-Rebels instructors Mrs. Lisa Kleber, Dr. Valerie Rickert, and Ms. Jeanine Fout appreciated the tremendous effort put forth by both their students and 4-H, "We had a very young team this year with only 6 returning students from last year's rookie team and we couldn't be prouder of the effort and dedication of these students. They came into the Computer Lab extra times during the day (missing recess and lunch) to get their programming just right," said Lisa Kleber.
SGS Principal Brian Tekampe added,"It is great to have such a young team take such an interest in this growing field".
St. Gilbert School, a 2017 National Blue Ribbon School, also prepares younger programmers with Jr. Robotics and Coding classes and clubs, as well as Science Olympiad, Future City, Math Olympiad, Drone Club, and Crazy 8's Math Club.
This is the Robo-Rebels second season. At last year's 4-H Showcase, St. Gilbert School won the "Programming Award" with their rookie team.
"A huge shout out to Ms. Sandra Prez from the Lake County 4-H Extension Club and Dynamic Signals for putting on such a great event" said Lisa Kleber. Students were judged by High School students from the Dynamic Signals Team and other experts in the field.
"I would like to thank Ms. Prez for giving me the opportunity to have a showcase where I could show everybody what I have learned and how to do all of this", said St. Gilbert School 5th grader, Izzy Bing.
Natalie Panoja, a St. Gilbert School 5th grade student remarked "The judges who judged our slide presentation were cool and calm which made me less nervous to present."
"The core ideals of 4-H, 'You Belong, You Decide, You Serve and You Learn' teach students their place in this ever growing, fast changing world. Learning to communicate and work together as a team are valuable skills that will help students achieve more as they grow, " noted Kleber.
For more information about St. Gilbert Catholic School contact school.office@stgilbertschool.org or call 847-223-8600. For more information about 4-H contact Ms. Sandra Prez at sprez@illinois.edu