Just imagine … It’s almost 11 p.m., and a teacher at McKenzie Career Center has to actually tell the kids to go home from school! A local engineer and a fascinated Lawrence North student sit shoulder-to-shoulder examining metal parts and discussing detailed engineering plans. That’s when you know it’s “robot season.”

A unique program at Lawrence Township’s McKenzie Career Center has local high schoolers completely engaged in science and technology — and having a ball at the same time!

McKenzie’s Robotics team, the Kil-a-Bytes, has grown from a startup program in 2003 to a dominant presence in the robotics arena with 50 kids on the team this year. The Kil-a-Bytes and their robot recently chalked up their second regional win at the Boilermaker Regional at Purdue University, achieving the highest score and taking the Imagery Award  for the “coolest looking” robot! The team also took First Place at the Midwest Regional competition in Chicago. The regional wins qualify the Kil-a-Bytes for the national FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Championship in Atlanta, Ga., April 17-19.

Each year, the Kil-a-Bytes design and build a 120-pound robot in 42 days and then ship it off to compete in three regional FIRST competitions. Then it’s on to the national Championship, where more than 1,600 teams compete for top honors. Founded by Segway inventor Dean Kamen, FIRST aims to “create a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes.”

Each season, NASA engineers develop a game for FIRST robotic competitions. This year’s game is “Maximum Overdrive,” where robots are required to work as a team to manipulate a giant, 40-inch ball through obstacles.

McKenzie’s team includes students from Lawrence Central and Lawrence North, as well as one student from Cathedral High School. In years past, students from Hamilton Southeastern and even Franklin Central have joined this top-performing team.

Part of the Kil-a-Bytes success stems from the dedicated involvement of 14 engineering mentors and the generous donations of local businesses. The team spent about $50,000 last year to build its robot, attend competitions and host its own summer tournament, said Carletta Sullivan, McKenzie’s School-to-Work Coordinator. Each team member is responsible to raise $400; the rest comes from grants and sponsors (check out a list of sponsors at www.mckenzierobotics.org).

Local engineers who serve as mentors say they do it as a way to be involved with their community and to interest students in technology careers right here in Indiana.

“The programs they have at McKenzie really impressed me,” says Lead Mentor Jason Zielke, a Fishers resident and vice president of operations for Precise Path Robotics. Zielke signed on as a mentor six years ago when the Kil-a-Bytes were just starting up. (Precise Path President Doug Traster mentors Warren Township’s Robotics Team, making for a friendly rivalry at work!)

Zielke says he’s amazed at the skills students are learning at McKenzie, which is No. 1 in the state for the number of students involved in “Project Lead the Way,” an Indiana Department of Workforce Development initiative which promotes a hands-on, project-based approach to technical learning.

Several students from McKenzie’s robotics program have gone on to elite colleges, including six in the engineering program at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology — four of them on a full-ride scholarship based on their involvement with FIRST Robotics.

Having the mentorship of local engineers is a huge benefit, Sullivan said. Lawrence North student Taylor Chenoweth landed an internship at Aircom Manufacturing after its program mentor, Mick Trompen, noted his remarkable skill designing robots.

“He’s just a unique kid,” Trompen says of Taylor, who joined Aircom as a summer intern in 2007 and continues to work part-time during the school year. “He has a good head for things that are mechanical.” With his experience at Aircom and on the Robotics Team, Chenoweth will be far ahead of his peers when he gets to Purdue University next fall.

“It’s been fun to watch this kid develop into a really accomplished young adult through all this,” Sullivan said. “When you walk into the room and you see a kid on his hands and knees on the floor with an engineer talking about the trade off between speed and power, that’s a rich moment.”

We are fortunate to have such a unique program available to all our kids in the Geist area. Good luck to the McKenzie Kil-a-Bytes at nationals!

The McKenzie Kil-a-Bytes and their teammates score a win during the final match at the Midwest Regional, ensuring them a spot at nationals.

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