Pirates, Quackers, Emperors in Dayton

NORWALK — Three teams of middle school students traveled to Dayton to compete in a state robotics competition. The three teams — The Coding Pirates, The Quackers and The Dominating Emperors — made their way to the two-day competition hosted at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base earlier this week. All team members from each team are from Norwalk Schools, but there is no affiliation to the school district. The teams are under the guidance of Future Innovators, a local nonprofit in the Norwalk area based at 166 Milan Ave. Competition days This year's competition asked teams to stack game pins and place them into goals stationed around the game board. There were several ways teams could score additional points, like stacking a variety of game pin colors, adding a beam to the stack, matching the bottom game pin color to a goal zone color and more. Primary coach for The Coding Pirates, Sarah Reed, said she is proud of each of the students' performances at the competition. Out of the 47 competing middle school teams from across Ohio, here's how each of the three teams ranked overall and based on their driving and autonomy skills during the competition: • The Coding Pirates placed 5th and took 8th in skills. The Coding Pirates had a wonderful season, according to Reed. She said they learned to be leaders and help other teams, which is the best achievement of all. • The Quackers placed 45th and took 25th in skills The Quackers robot was a new design for the state competition. It was a complex build, and the students were learning its ins and outs, according to Reed, but they learned how to operate it in a short time. She said the team worked hard and did an awesome job. • The Dominating Emperors placed 33rd and took 28th in skills Despite being a new team that was late to form, The Dominating Emperors made it to the state competition, which was a first for all of the teammates. Reed said they did a great job and she is excited to see what is in store for their futures. The teams: • The Coding Pirates: Liam Reed, Amir Jackson, Wyatt Browne and Julian King • The Quackers: Elijah McNutt, Colton Minier, Maddie Riley and Triton Arnett • The Dominating Emperors: Charlotte Hahn, Ace Brewer, Calvin Habernigg and Jude More Colton Minier, a seventh-grade Norwalk Middle School student and member of The Quackers team, was responsible for driving and loading pins. "I am glad we learned so much in the few tournaments and especially during state over the past two days," Minier said. "We may not have performed our best, but we learned so much. We have gained a lot of knowledge." Julian King, an eighth-grade Norwalk Middle School student and member of the Coding Pirates, had a similar feeling to Minier about his team's performance. "I think we could have done better, but I am happy with the way we performed," King said. "Our robot functioned well." Calvin Habernigg, an eighth-grade student at Norwalk Middle School, is a member of the team Reed said was recently formed, The Dominating Emperors. He said his team has been getting better. "Our first competition, we did not know if we were going to do well, but we did, and we have been improving," Habernigg said. Future Innovators Future Innovators provides students with a hands-on STEM — short for science, technology, engineering and mathematics — program allowing them to learn real-world skills in robotics, engineering, code and leadership, according to Reed. Its mission is to "empower tomorrow's leaders." Reed, along with another parent of a Coding Pirates team member, started the nonprofit. She said there were a lot of parents who wanted their children to get involved in robotics, so they saw the need for an after-school program. "We don't just teach kids how to build robots, we teach them how to solve problems, work as a team, think critically and communicate confidently," Reed said. "Our students design, build and program competitive and non-competitive robots while learning project management, resilience and professionalism." Not only does the organization work with students to form and register teams for competitions, but leaders also guide them through expectations of competition and answer questions about robot concepts and aspects of the machines. The organization also has students who just come to build, code, 3-D print and more. Students like Minier feel like they are supported and gain knowledge through Future Innovators. The group allows students to surround themselves with others with the same interests as them, which is something King enjoys about Future Innovators. Reed said the group is open to all kids who want to join. Students meet up on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 4:30-6:30 p.m. There is a behavioral contract that students are asked to sign and a $40 monthly fee that helps the group pay for the space's rent. Future Innovators is a flexible group, according to Habernigg. "You can adjust your schedule even if you are involved with other after-school programs," Habernigg said. Future Innovators has a team of coaches and mentors, but Reed said additional adult volunteers are always welcome. Those interested can email the organization at futureinnovatorsohio@gmail.com.