Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1464867
APRIL 2022 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 67 Manes: Absolutely. Students are scouting so that we can make the right decisions when it comes to alliance selection. Another example is when students become specialists of individ- ual components. ey design, prototype, and test it, then they install them on the robot. If something breaks on that robot, there's a cer- tain person or group of students who know how to deal with that. Matties: What about the age groups? It looks like you have all age groups here. Manes: Correct. Matties: ere's a lot of tribal knowledge, if you will, being passed down from the older to younger grades. But being able to bring those age groups together as one enters high school while another is departing has got to be powerful as well. Manes: Yes, that's tr ue. COVID made that more dif- ficult, but we never stopped even when classes were online. We continued to CAD and design; we built our community. We even had students who joined during COVID because they were look- ing for something that interested them. We would meet up to 12 times a week using Zoom for a variety of reasons, not just building robots. We also had virtual camps where we hosted primary and middle school students, as well as an all-girls middle school camp. Some were virtual, while others were a hybrid of virtual and in-person. In fact, we have some campers here today who have joined our team. Matties: COVID caused some problems, but it also created an opportunity for you to teach ways to navigate challenging times. ROBOTICS TEAM SPECIAL REPORT