Engineering & Robotics Program at SCH Academy

2012 Looking back at all SCH kids 1st through 12th grade robotics

WHERE PASSION MEETS PURPOSE

With 16 robotics teams (2 Upper School, 6 Middle School, and 8 Lower School), SCH provides an unparalleled depth of engineering and robotics to inspire students to pursue their passions in STEM fields. For students whose passion is engineering, we offer the opportunity to study 3+ years of engineering before they graduate, giving them an admissions advantage for the most competitive engineering programs in the country. Over the past 10 years, SCH has placed students into the engineering programs at MIT, Caltech, Princeton, Penn, Columbia, Brown, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins, RPI, WPI, Virginia Tech, Drexel, Temple, Rose-Hulman, and all 3 military academies.

A PLACE FOR CREATING

SCH Middle and Upper School students test their engineering creativity in a customized, 1,600-square-foot, state-of-the-art Engineering and Robotics Lab—fully equipped with laser cutters, CAD/CAM software, CNC mill and router table, and 5 state-of-the-art 3D printers.

In the newly built McCausland Lower School, our youngest students develop their scientific and technological fluency in a dedicated Physics and Engineering Lab. Brimming with tubes, marbles, ramps, gears, water wheels, and more, the lab has everything needed to promote hands-on experiments and a working knowledge of the principles of physics. Our Lower School students also have an Imagineering Lab where they use LEGOs and K’NEX to imagine, design, and build their latest creations.

Hear from the Department Chair

20 Years At-A-Glance

robotics COmpetitions for all ages

Partnership with FIRST

SCH Academy partners with the international FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics to bring SCH students (ages 6-18) opportunities to apply their design and engineering skills in age-appropriate challenges. Students participate on teams to design and construct robots to perform a series of required tasks directed by that year’s challenge. The teams then participate in area tournaments and international championships that emphasize friendly, cooperative competition and celebrate student creativity in many dimensions.

Meet Team 1218

Upper School

Our Upper School robotics team, FIRST Team 1218 Vulcan Robotics, competes in FIRST Robotics Competitions (FRC). In March 2019, the team and its three allies won the final, nail-biting match by one point, making them the World Robotics Champions.

In the past, the team has won multiple awards for design, innovation, and engineering. For the fifth time, they have also garnered the coveted Chairman’s Award—FIRST’s most prestigious recognition honoring the team that demonstrates exemplary partnership effort.

Middle School

SCH students in grades 5 and 6 participate in FLL (FIRST LEGO League), which is an alliance between FIRST® and the LEGO® Group. Each season, FLL teams are presented with a challenge that has a central theme taken from real-world scientific topics. The teams are judged on a project, a robot game, and how well a team demonstrates the FLL core values. As the name implies, the robots are built using the LEGO EV3 robot kit and programmed using Scratch.

Students in grades 7 and 8 compete in the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) where they are challenged to design and fabricate an 18"x18"x18" robot out of structural aluminum, lexan, and a multitude of motors and gears. They must learn how to program their robot using the Java programming language.

Lower School

Our youngest students (ages 6-9) participate in Jr. FLL (Junior FIRST® LEGO® League), which focuses on building an interest in science and engineering at an early age. The program is designed to capture curiosity and direct it toward discovering how science and technology impact the world around them. This program features a real-world challenge to be explored through research, critical thinking, and imagination.

I feel immediately at home when I step into the robotics lab. From leading team meetings in our classroom space to teaching freshman how to solder at the electrical table, I have loved growing my involvement over the past four years. My favorite part of robotics has been the connections I have made to my peers and mentors in both moments of fun and focused work. The collaborative, project-based atmosphere fostered in this space allows students like myself to develop skills applicable in real-world engineering operations.

DOMINIQUE REGLI , Class of 2020

ROBOTICS STORIES

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Engineering & Robotics Program at SCH Academy

WHERE PASSION MEETS PURPOSE

A PLACE FOR CREATING

robotics COmpetitions for all ages

ROBOTICS STORIES

Engineering & Robotics Program at SCH Academy