LIVINGSTON COUNTY — Livingston County will be well represented this week at the FRC World Championships in Houston, where they will compete with teams from around the world.
The province is represented this week by a high school team from the STEAM Syndicate. Yet the STEAM Syndicate is also expanding to younger ages, with nearly 40 students from kindergarten through high school. As a STEAM education organization, the syndicate is open to all provincial students, with an emphasis on inclusivity and teamwork.
The STEAM Syndicate has been active for the past year, providing STEAM educational programs to students from across the province. It is a nonprofit organization funded by a combination of state grants through the Livingston Education Service Agency (LESA), local sponsorships, team registration fees and other fundraising efforts. Students from any public, private or charter school in the county are invited to participate. Home-schooled students are also invited.
According to Board Chairman Jaime Timmins-Bertan, the entire reason for creating the STEAM Syndicate is to provide a positive and inclusive experience for students of different backgrounds and abilities.
“Some school programs (robotics or STEAM) are ultra-competitive, and that’s okay,” says Timmins-Bertan. “We offer an alternative. We continue to be strong supporters of other school teams and programs. We don’t want to take over anything from those teams, but rather complement them.”
Unlike some school districts in the county, the STEAM Syndicate offers teams and programs at the preschool and high school levels. Timmins-Bertan expects the total number of participants to increase in the coming years as the organization becomes better known.
The teams participate in various competitions and are involved at the high school level in FIRST Robotics competitions, where students learn coding, programming and life skills through robotics challenges. The 11-member Syndicate team advanced to the state finals of the regionals earlier this winter. They got there based on their performance at the state finals in early April.
“What I like about this team is that it really feels like a team,” said Logan Chapel, a member of the Hartland High School team and Brighton resident. “We involve everyone in everything we do. We all contribute equally.”
That teamwork was on display a few weeks ago at the FIRST Robotics Troy Invitational, when during the first part of the competition, the Syndicate team’s robot was largely destroyed during the exhibition. Team members quietly rebuilt the robot within an hour, allowing them to continue in the competition.
“We had already made sure our wiring was organized and we all knew what needed to be done to fix it,” Chapel said. “Unlike some other teams, the (parents) don’t do all the work. We did it all – they basically just held our tools for us while we were fixing them.”
Timmins-Bertan said the program is designed to produce well-rounded students who learn multiple skills. Some of those skills are skills they once knew they had. Therefore, all team members will learn how to support auto-CAD, coding, engineering, computer and other skills. There is even a need for team members to learn video and photography.
“You never know at that age what you really like and what you want to (pursue) in a career,” Timmins-Bertan said.
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Team member Elizabeth Arrowood knows she wants to be an engineer as she gets older. But despite the educational and practical benefits the team offers, she likes that being part of the Syndicate team is fun.
“We get everything done that we need to do and we have fun together,” the Hartland High School student said. Teammate Brendan Bertan agrees. “We all have the freedom to try new things and share (new) ideas to see if they work,” he said.
Some high school students have moved on to the high school team and will join their peers in Houston this week. They contain:
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Brendan Bertan (9th grade, Hartland High School)
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Logan Chapel (10th grade, Hartland High School)
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Aiden Gorang (9th grade, Hartland High School)
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Elizabeth Arrowood (9th grade, Hartland High School)
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Joey Linton (10th grade, Hartland High School)
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Carter Leestma (9th grade, Hartland High School)
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Alaina Reynolds (8th grade, Hartland Middle School)
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Charlie Moore (8th grade, Hartland Middle School)
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Keira Kapel (8th grade, Hartland Middle School)
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Libby Linton (8th grade, Hartland Middle School)
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Nick Ray (8th grade, Hartland Middle School)
The STEAM Syndicate currently offers FIRST robotics (K-12), Girls Solve IT (girls in grades 4-8), and STEAM-based Scout Merit Badge workshops. More information can be found at steamsyndicate.org.
— M. Alan Scott is a freelance writer for The Livingston Daily. Contact the editors at newsroom@livingstondaily.com.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Livingston County STEAM Syndicate team prepares for world championships
