Catching up with Beaumont's First Robotics Team

Six years ago when our then-Biology teacher Gretchen Santo asked her Academic Scholars class who wanted to build combat robots, she didn’t expect 20 hands to go up in the air. Ms. Santo was asked by Christopher Tool, a local manufacturer, to put together a Beaumont Robotics Team to compete in the Alliance for Working Together (AWS) Robobot Competition. She had no idea how important and significant this venture would become for the student team members and the future of robotics at Beaumont.

The group paired itself down to the original five due in part to schedules after the students learned that every Saturday morning from October to the competition in May they would be committing to going to Christopher Tool and working with their engineers who mentored our students in how to design, build, and eventually compete with their combat robots.

“The original team set the gold standard for Beaumont Robotics. They were the only all-girls’ team to compete, and Beaumont School still continues to hold this distinction. They were enthusiastic and absorbed every bit of the engineering process that they could. They were invited to speak at events, were interviewed for articles, and were watched to see how they would succeed. They solidified our relationship with Christopher Tool, an invaluable relationship for Beaumont School that makes all of this possible,” said Ms. Santo.

The original team also mentored the teams that came up behind them, giving example of how to dedicate yourself to an important goal and how to collaborate and support each other— a necessary skill in engineering and in life.

Today the original team members still find time to come back and visit the team, Ms. Santo, and the engineers at Christopher Tool.

Where Are They Now?

As we catch up with most of the original team members to find out where they are today and how the experience impacted their lives, they had one common piece of advice for incoming Beaumont freshman:

"Step out of your comfort zone and pursue as many new experiences as you can. High school is the time where you can experiment with different activities to figure out where your passions lie. Do not be afraid to try something new. Whether it’s playing sports, acting, solving math equations, building combat robots, learning a foreign language, painting, participating in mock trial, sailing on tall ships, or whatever other opportunities lie in front you, trust your gut and pursue them."

Molly Cogan ‘15 Senior, The Ohio State University

Major: Biomedical Engineering with concentrations in Cell and Tissue Engineering and BioImaging

Health Sciences Scholar

Career Plans: I have worked and volunteered for the last 2 ½ years as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT).Initially I was set on going to medical school after my undergrad, but I realized that my deepest passion is Emergency Medicine. I plan to go to paramedic school, firefighter school, become a flight medic for life flight, and eventually, I plan on going to medical school or become a Physician Assistant to further advance my medical training in the field of Emergency Medicine.

The Beaumont Robotics Team first introduced me to the field of engineering and made me realize how much I love to work with my hands and solve problems through critical thinking. The experience I had building combat robots combined with my love of interacting with other people, especially in the medical setting, led me to study Biomedical Engineering in college because it combined my two greatest passions: engineering and medicine.

One of my favorite parts of being on the Beaumont Robotics Team was at the competitions when we were pressured for time to repair our robot in the pit crew area after it had been damaged in battle. The pure adrenaline rush of trying to get our robot back to working condition in sometimes just 20 minutes was nerve racking, but also just thrilling for me. I thrived under the pressure and was deemed the pit crew manager for our team.

Looking back on these moments, I realized that these intense, high-pressure situations steered me toward a career in Emergency Medicine. Instead of fixing a damaged robot, I fell in love with the idea of being able to help restore an injured or ill person back to health in a limited amount of time because I knew I could remain calm under pressure while also enjoying the adrenaline rush on a much larger scale.

Ultimately, I am also just so grateful for the engineering experience I gained from robotics because as I gain more advanced medical training, the critical thinking and problem solving skills that I am obtaining from my engineering degree can help me create more effective treatments for patients in need of emergency medical care in the future.

I will never forget the moments at competitions when fellow competitors would boast about how they would destroy our robot because a team of girls could obviously never make anything good enough to compete in a male-dominated competition. The best was when we could incapacitate the robots of those competitors in less than 20 seconds.

Beaumont has had a profound impact on the woman that I am today. The values Beaumont instilled in me influenced me to become an empowered, confident, and resilient woman. The environment that Beaumont fostered taught me to never be afraid of standing my ground as a woman and to always speak up for what is right because I know there are hundreds of Beaumont sisters who had my back not only throughout all of high school, but who also will stand alongside me for the rest of my life.

Beaumont has empowered me to be a leader in my future career while keeping the service of others at the center of my life. I am proud to be one of so many amazing Beaumont women who are all driven to bring positive change to our world.

Julie Schiffer ‘15 Graduate Student, West Virginia University

Degree: Masters of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages and Linguistics

Graduate Teaching Assistant, French

Career Plans: Upon graduation from this program I plan on spending a year participating in a program for teaching English in France and then returning to the states to teach French and ESL.

Although I am no longer pursuing a degree or career that is directly related to my robotics experience, I am still grateful for the many lessons that those experiences taught me. My time on the robotics team taught me the value and importance of teamwork, how to present myself and my ideas in a professional environment, and how to handle working under pressure.

One of my favorite memories from robotics was when we went to nationals for the first time in Indianapolis sophomore year. We ended up earning third place in our first national competition. During the competition we won against several college teams and grew a lot as a team.

My Beaumont education, and especially some of the incredible teachers who I had there has definitely helped to shape me into the woman I am today. Throughout my time at Beaumont, these teachers encouraged me to continue to grow in my faith and instilled in me a love of learning which has inspired me to pursue teaching today.

Alyssa Muttillo ‘15 Senior, University of Dayton

Degree: Mechanical Engineering Lead Engineering Ambassador, School of Engineering

President, Tau Beta Pi, engineering honors society

Career plans: I work as a Lead Engineering Ambassador, Lead Enrichment Workshop Manager, and President of Tau Beta Pi, an engineering Honors Society. I participate on an advanced materials research team. I would like to pursue my Master’s degree in engineering and would like to work for an aerospace component manufacturing facility as a design engineer.

Without the Beaumont Robotics Team, I would not be in an engineering field. The team exposed me to the design process from conceptual design to a finished product. I was also unaware of the manufacturing environment and spending Saturday’s at Christopher Tool allowed me to become more familiar and to really enjoy working in a manufacturing environment to solve different problems.

The most impactful experience of being on the team was working with my fellow teammates and wonderful mentors who truly cared about our learning experience. This was my first experience with an engineering team and I was fortunate to have such incredible people to work with. The experience would not have been the same without them! Also, working at Christopher Tool on Saturdays and being in a manufacturing environment was extremely impactful. Our mentors allowed us to work on the different machines and we were directly involved in manufacturing our robot. From this experience, I knew I wanted to be in an engineering field.

Beaumont means so much to me. The academic side of Beaumont taught me how to work hard and study correctly to do well in my classes. Beaumont prepared me very well for the rigor and intensity of Engineering School. The extra-curricular side of Beaumont allowed me to experience engineering first hand and allow me to develop a passion that will stay with me forever.

Elizabeth Stanitz ‘14 2018 Graduate, University of Rochester in New York

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering

Career Plans: I moved to Ann Arbor, Mich., immediately after graduation to start my job at Toyota as a Design Engineer in the Automatic Transmission Group. I work in quality looking for any reoccurring issues by analyzing data and processes, and then finding potential design solutions.

The Robotics Team definitely had an impact on what I chose as career path. I thought I would become a doctor, but soon learned I was more interested in engineering. The team experience really prepared me for my current role: hands-on to fabrication, collaboration, design thinking, and problem solving.

Beaumont is a big family and a safe community where you could try things outside of your realm. It was easy to be a leader because of the supportive atmosphere.

Beaumont is the only all-girls’ team in the AWT Robotics competition and the results speak for themselves:

2012: Deus ex Machina, 2nd Place AWT Regionals

2013: Ramses, 1st Place AWT Regionals, Coolest Bot AWT Regionals, 3rd Place NRL Nationals

2014: Alexander the Great, Best Presentation AWT Regionals, Best Presentation NRL Nationals, Best Engineering NRL Nationals. Dark Horse: Best Documentation NRL Nationals

2015: Joan of Arc, 2nd Place AWT Regionals, Coolest Bot AWT Regionals, Best Presentation AWT Regionals, 4th Place NRL Nationals, Best Engineering Award NRL Nationals

2016: Stobor, 3rd Place AWT Regionals, Best Documentation AWT Regionals, 5th Place NRL Nationals, Best Documentation NRL Nationals

2017: Stobor II, 2nd Place AWT Regionals, Best Engineering AWT Regionals, Coolest Bot AWT Regionals, Coolest Bot NRL Nationals

2018: Bothrops, 3rd Place AWT Regionals, Best Documentation AWT Regionals, Best Presentation AWT Regionals, Coolest Bot AWT Regionals

Original Article From: https://www.beaumontschool.org/news/2019/05/16/beaumont-news-justice-melody-stewart-80