About the Team
The idea for a First Robotics team at the Pontiac Academy for Excellence began in December of 2015.
Javon Sutton, a new student at the school who had prior experience with Robotics, mentioned the program to his math teacher, Russel Andrews-El. The rest is history. Mr. Andrews-El recruited students through his math classes. The interest was overwhelming with over 60 students wanting to participate. Due to lack of resources – both from a financial and mentoring standpoint – only students with stellar academic and attendance record were allowed to be part of the team. In the end, the 2016 team counted approximately 20 kids. The team managed to compete in 2 events in 2016 in spite of having no sponsor and lack of overall resource at the school.
The team met four days a week from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., which is when they could have access to the math classroom, the only space available to them. The team sometimes had to work while tutoring was taking place and there was no true robotics mentor available for the first three weeks of build season. Luckily, through school connections and word-of-mouth, Chris Hunt, a seasoned First Robotics mentor then not involved in a team, jumped on board and supported Team Wingspan. FRC6117 managed to build a working robot – soon to be the Highest Rookie Seed – in 3 weeks instead of 6.
Contact us for more information about our team.
Wingspan 6117 