Grundy Reporter

A group of Highland Park High School students who won an Illinois robotics competition earlier this year recently helped create a program to teach coding to fifth graders at Wilmot Elementary School.

The nine members of the Rust in Peace robotics team developed a seven-week unit featuring instructional videos on coding skills; as well as videos related to a VRS system, being part of a robotics team, and the nonprofit FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) organization. Prior to watching the videos, the fifth graders were divided into teams consisting of two to three students.

“Our 15 lesson video curriculum was enhanced by Rust in Peace members teaching in person, welcoming students into the world of engineering, and software development using the FIRST competition platform,” Jacob Hoyt, captain of Rust in Peace, said at a May school district board meeting. “Students documented their learning, questions, and reflections in their engineering notebooks. The unit ended with an awards assembly where each class's winner competed for the title of school champion. Awards were given to outstanding engineering notebooks, winning autonomous programs, and the best reflection videos similar to actual FIRST robotics tournaments.”

Rust in Peace was crowned the winner of the FIRSTTech Challenge state competition in March, a report from Moeara said. It was the second time in four years that a team from Highland Park advanced to the world championship competition.

FIRST was founded with the goal of inspiring young individuals to become leaders in the science and technology fields through hands-on educational and mentoring programs, the organization’s website said. Its yearly championship event gives young students the opportunity to showcase their robotics skills.