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GSSM robotics team urges Hartsville to host a STEM festival, demos competition robot
Summary
Students from the Governor's School (GSSM) robotics team proposed a community STEM festival and demonstrated a competition robot, saying the event could showcase local STEM assets and encourage youth participation in technical careers.
Students from GSSM's robotics team presented a proposal to Hartsville City Council to host a STEM festival and demonstrated their competition robot.
Shabali Patel, who said she attends the school at 401 Railroad Avenue and is a member of team FRC 772 Golden Dragons, described the proposal as a way to engage the local community, showcase regional STEM capacity and encourage younger students to consider STEM careers. Patel said the team competed at the world championship in Houston and at a Johns Hopkins invitational.
Patel demonstrated the team's robot, explained this year's game objectives and described the machine's components, including a claw and an extending slide used to pick up and place game pieces and mechanisms to hang on a low bar. She said the robot was largely custom-built in roughly four months by a team of about 13 contributors and that some parts are 3-D printed while others were produced on a campus CNC machine.
Council members asked about program size and sustainability. Patel said the broader robotics program at the school involves about 60 to 75 students, with around 6 members on the presented competitive team; she said juniors and seniors are preparing manuals and training to pass knowledge on to underclassmen so the program remains sustainable.
Why it matters: a local STEM festival could provide educational outreach, regional visitors and economic activity by drawing families to local businesses and giving students hands-on exposure to science and engineering.
The council thanked the students and moved on to the business agenda.
