New faces and excitement have been in the air as the RoboRams welcome new members and new leadership in their 2021-22 robotics season.

RoboRams mentors and officers worked nonstop during this preseason to prepare for all of their fundraising events.

Responsibility for these events falls on the Public Relations and Business departments of the team; however, all team members are required to participate in these events in order to accompany the team to competitions.

Hayden Williamson, ‘22, explained, “My favorite part of the Roborams preseason is raising money to insure the legacy of the team.”

Williamson is this year’s RoboRams CEO; students probably heard him speak at the “Back to School” pep rally to inform the student body about the RoboRams.

The Fall preseason is an especially busy time as the team hosts a Krispy Kreme Doughnut sale which is used to advertise the team’s biggest fundraiser of the year: the Spaghetti Dinner and Silent Auction.  Funds from these events go towards the team’s main robot and competition trips.

Cassie White, ‘23, mentioned, “So far for this fundraising season, I have gone out with Rachel Bolerjack, our business mentor, to almost all of the businesses in the Southeast part of town to ask for donations for our silent auction that we are putting on.”

White is a part of the officer team on RoboRams and in charge of the finances that got to the team.

The officer team includes Williamson as the CEO (chief executive officer), White as the CFO (chief financial officer), Jacob Kuhn, 22’, as the PRO (public relations officer), Christian Gonzalez, 22’, as the COO (chief operations officer), and Ryan Bendersky, 23’, as the EOO (education and outreach officer).

Each officer took on a lot of responsibilities during this time like going on business runs to reach out to businesses for donations and prepare everything for our big fundraisers.

The typical cost to build a robot is usually around $4000 to $5000, so it is vitally important that the team be successful in their fundraising efforts.

“While the fundraising does involve a tremendous amount of work, it is a time of team building and bonding as the returning members and mentors get to know the new members,” commented Mrs. Karen Slous, Public Relations mentor.

While they work towards their fundraising events they also try to keep new members engaged and motivated.

“For our new RoboRams members we have been doing different activities in our departments that gets them familiarized with what they will be doing during the actual build season and getting them trained on the many different tools and machines that we use all of the time.”, said White.

The build season is where the team works 5 days a week to design, fabricate, and program their competition robot.

Williamson mentioned, “Build season is stressful yet fulfilling.  You get to experience the process engineers go through with a team of experienced mentors.”

Everything the team does in the preseason like the fundraisers and teaching the new members builds up to make a very successful build season and give the team the support to compete internationally.

“I’m very proud of the work we’ve done this preseason after our sudden halt last year due to the pandemic, I’m excited to see what’s next to come!”, said lead mentor Mr. Dustin Foster