Robotics adjusts to unusual season
Junior Devin Jones, pictured after class on December 11, is one f many Robotics TEam members who are “working hard,” according to Coach Caribee Collier.
The Robotics Team’s season has been altered due to strict COVID restrictions and complications with how the robotics tournaments will be conducted this year.
The Caravan Robotics Team has been very successful in recent years. As recently as February the team won The Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation Aerial Drone (RAD) Competition Ace Award, as well as competed in the RAD World Championship in April.
Tournaments usually are held at regional, state and national levels every year, but due to COVID restrictions those competition will most likely not be happening.
Although there have been talks of holding virtual competitions, nothing is in place yet, according to Coach Caribee Collier. The team still holds practices every Tuesday and Thursday after school in room G204 from 2:45 to 4:30 PM.
This year, only those students attending school in-person can participate in robotics because robotics requires such hands on work that it is virtually impossible to participate online.
Despite missing the exciting and competitive events in which they usually love to compete, the deep roster of robotics participants are “doing the best they can” in these unfortunate circumstances, according to Collier.
He also noted that despite COVID complications, “Our students continue to work each week, building, rebuilding and modifying robots with various designs and functions.”
Collier added that the experienced members are doing an exceptional job helping and guiding the younger and newer participants through a new experience.
Some of those dedicated Robotics Team members are: seniors Saul Catalan, Aidan Cavallini, Dylan Guijosa, Kenneth Jara, Michael Mota, William Quinn, Robert Sanchez-Szewczyk, and Samnang Smith; juniors Luke Black ,Jack Brown, Owen Duignan, Ethan Godinez, Devin Jones, Ahmad Raoul, and Daniel Walsh; sophomores Morgan Battig, Liam Brady, Isaiah Gonzales-Iglesias, Kevin Jacobs, Isaiah Jara, Jor’Din Lawrence, Andrew Sippel, Jack Walsh, and Anthony Wiseman; and freshmen Damien Guijosa, Timothy Monberg, and Jacob Sanchez.
![Photo of Patrick Hatzis](https://mccaravan.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/IMG_3917-e1600006862751-369x475.png)
Patrick Hatzis is a senior at Mount Carmel High School. He was born in the West Loop, but now lives in the South Loop of Chicago. Hatzis attended private...