LUMBERTON — The Public Schools of Robeson County has been awarded a grant to enhance robotics across the district.
The $74,955 Afterschool Robotics Competitive Grant will be used for robotics team registrations, teacher coaching stipends, travel expenses to regional and state competitions, and robotics equipment. The funding comes from a legislative grant that uses ESSER III (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funding. Funds must be spent by Sept. 30, 2024.
“The Public Schools of Robeson County continues its commitment to providing our students with opportunities to think critically, solve complex problems and foster a lifelong love of learning. Robotics certainly provides those opportunities for our students and this grant is one way we hope to strengthen the program,” said PSRC Superintendent Dr. Freddie Williamson.
PSRC Science Supervisor Susan Miller-Hendrix said the grant will allow the district to “remove barriers” that might keep schools and robotics teams from participating in events such as events held at the regional and state levels, she said.
“The costs associated limit many schools from being able to participate without passing the costs to the students. When adding a cost, we compromise our ability to provide equitable access,” she said.
Other challenges the grant will address include transportation and compensation to robotics team coaches.
“Many times transportation becomes an issue for regional and state competitions and robotics coaches spend hours each week without being paid,” Miller-Hendrix said. “Stipends will be provided to the robotics team coaches for the time and effort they put into their programs.”
The grant will be an asset to the school district, which has been committed to expanding its robotics program offerings to all students.
“The goal is to bridge the robotics program within our district from elementary to high schools so that more students have the opportunity to participate,” Miller-Hendrix said.
The school district has certainly made progress in the area of robotics expansion, she said.
Prior to 2024, the school district had only one high school robotics competition team at PSRC Early College High School.
“This year, we were able to start some robotics competition teams at eight schools. I want to see us have competitive teams in most if not all schools across the district building this program from barely existing a few years ago to a program that students are eager to be a part of,” Miller-Hendrix added.
In November 2023, the school district hosted the FIRST LEGO League Challenge Qualifier at Lumberton Junior High School. Students in grades 3-8 faced off during the event, with some schools moving on to the regional event and Lumberton Juinor High School’s team moving on to the state competition.
The event was the inaugural FIRST Robotics-sanctioned competition held in the school district.
PSRC will hold a district robotics competition on March 27. Robotics teams in the district at elementary, middle, and high schools will compete during that event.
There are many benefits to growing the program from the elementary level to the high school level and the grant will assist in that effort, according to the PSRC Science Supervisor.
“Doing so will also expose our students to STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Math] opportunities and careers,” she said. “This grant will also help ensure students are being provided the rigor and inquiry-based learning to improve student outcomes for underrepresented students in STEM.”
Students compete in the FIRST LEGO League Challenge Qualifier held on November 29, 2023, at Lumberton Junior High School. The Public Schools of Robeson County has received funding to enhance the robotics program for students across the district. The grant will assist schools in covering expenses such as transportation costs for robotics competitions at the regional and state levels. Funding also be used to compensate robotics coaches for their time and effort and to purchase robotics equipment.