The purpose of the NERD Spark Robotics Team is to promote students' interest in math, science, manufacturing and engineering. The training allows young minds to thrive and excel in our increasingly technological environment and global economy.
This is NERD Spark’s first year. We may be a rookie team, but we have a lot we would like to accomplish and an ambitious plan to achieve them. Our head coach, Coach Elmer has coached many teams in the past from different locations: Albion and Canton. He merged two communities over an hour apart, both coming from very different backgrounds and communities, into a single team, to form NERD Spark.
Using both virtual and in-person meetings, we collaborate together to create and execute a design process. Both sides of the team have programmers and builders/designer's that work together to create an amazing robot.
Participating in FRC gives us the opportunity to learn valuable skills such as designing, building, programming, and team building. Being a part of this team opens up opportunities for scholarships and internships in STEM fields, as well as allowing us to make a positive impact in our communities by getting to know new people, organizing events, and collaborating with others.
NERD Spark wants to help everyone in the community be successful and excited about STEM. We are spreading FIRST and STEM in our community through many different outreach events including summer sessions at home for introducing CAD and Programming to 5th thru 12th graders, and volunteering at Innovate Albion’s free STEM Saturdays event every 3rd Saturday of the month where we teach students about engineering, programming, and robotics.