After a victory on Dec. 6 at the qualifier competition, NK’s Robotics Club will head to the state championship for robotics. The team will compete in the First Tech Challenge on Jan. 30 and 31 at New England Tech’s Warwick campus.

Mr. Richard Powell, chair of the Science Department, serves as the Robotics Club adviser. Currently, the team consists of about 18 students in grades 9 through 12.  However, the majority of the club members are juniors.

In addition, Powell teaches Robotics 1, a semester-long course open to students in all four grades. NKHS will offer Robotics 2 next year.

According to Powell, students in the Robotics Club construct robots and program them to play a specific game in the First Tech Challenge, a statewide tournament between high school robotics teams.

Junior Chris Santos participates in Robotics Club. Santos aspires to be an engineer. Currently, he is taking Robotics 1 and AP Physics.

“[Robotics and AP Physics] are challenging courses, but they’re worth it in the long run,” Santos said. Santos hopes to take AP Physics 2, Computer Aided Design (CAD), and Introduction to Engineering next year, provided that he has sufficient room in his schedule.

“My favorite things about [Robotics Club] are thinking of different ideas to complete the task and the overall building of the robots,” Santos said.

Junior Jay Patel, another member of Robotics Club, plans to be an engineer as well. Patel has been in Robotics Club since 7th grade. He attended Jamestown School. “I joined robotics because I wanted to learn more about engineering,” Patel said.

Powell enjoys being adviser of the Robotics Club because it incorporates his two major interests: coaching and physics. Powell graduated from college with a physics degree and now teaches physics classes. Over the years, he has coached softball and wrestling at NK.

Robotics Club meets every Tuesday and Thursday in Rm. 143.

“We are always willing to accept new members,” Powell said.