With the largest group of students enrolled in its history, the Marlborough robotics teams have been handed both a blessing and a curse: they have a rapidly growing membership, but there are tough decisions to make regarding the unprecedented number of people.
STEM+ Program Co-Head and Robotics Instructor Andrew Witman said that teams cannot have more than fifteen people and that there are over fifty students in robotics. For the first time ever, the robotics team does not have three teams—it has four.
The record membership has led to the creation of a whole new team to ensure everyone can participate. Curiosity Team member Eliza ’21 is positive about the new team.
“Everybody was very welcoming last year, and they taught me a lot about robotics, so now I can teach the new members this year.”
Mr. Witman also thinks highly of the bond between robotics students.
“The team dynamic at Marlborough is very positive, and the teams tend to help each other out whenever possible . . . There is a first core value called ‘gracious professionalism,’ which essentially means that we’re competing in a competition, but we also are here to learn as much as we can, and we want to help each other out,” Witman said. “So, for example, if someone’s robot breaks, even if they’re going up against you in the next match, teams will rush for the opportunity to help fix that team’s robot.”
