Fremont Junior High School Girls Out Loud robotics team, (left to right) Kassidy Lopez, Sofia Carroll Covarrubias, Lucy Boyer and Payton Maguire.
At Fremont Junior High School, the Girls Out Loud robotics team is blazing a trail for future generations.
Seventh-graders Lucy Boyer, Sofia Carroll Covarrubias, Kassidy Lopez and Payton Maguire have been friends since kindergarten. In fifth grade, they realized their different schedules and interests made it challenging to stay connected. The friends looked for a learning opportunity to allow them bonding time and, most importantly, having fun. Robotics fit the bill.
Zaharis Elementary School gifted and talented teacher Patrick Carroll came on board as coach. At the time, the girls never dreamed that their hard work eventually would take them to the state competition at Arizona State University this past January.
The Girls Out Loud team motto is, If you had fun, you won. It’s easy to understand the students’ enthusiasm for robotics.
“Robotics is so much fun,” Lucy said. “When we first started, we didn’t know how to program robots, or what we were doing. We just knew we were having a blast, and now we focus on the experience, our teamwork and improving our scores.”
Space Exploration
First Lego League is celebrating its 30th season of challenging students to think like scientists and engineers through problem solving and teamwork. This year’s theme transports students into space to solve a problem that astronauts can experience.
Girls Out Loud chose to address the unique social and confinement issues astronauts face on their long voyages in space by using virtual reality technology. In September, the team began working on a prototype of red and black virtual reality glasses. The goal is to provide astronauts with a virtual reality experience to help them feel connected to Earth.
“We knew we wanted to make the glasses sleek and build the computer into the lenses,” Payton said.
After speaking with experts from NASA and SAP Hybris, the students learned that astronauts require two hours of daily exercise to maintain bone density and muscle strength in a microgravity environment. Infusing their exercise time with a virtual reality experience would add variety to their schedule, helping astronauts stay mentally healthy and happy.
“Astronauts have limited space to move around, and the glasses are designed to enhance their treadmill and stationary bike experiences,” Kassidy added.
The team added earbuds to the glasses, providing sounds of the real world, which elevates the experience.
“Now they can run on the beach, bike in the woods or play a game of tennis or golf,” Sofia shared.
The team qualified for state after competing in the regional tournament. At regionals, Girls Out Loud received the Project Award for fully embracing their core values, while achieving excellence and innovation in the robot game and project. At the time of this Up Close printing, results from the Jan. 19 state competition were unavailable.
For more information about all Mesa Public Schools, please visit mpsaz.org.