A new student organization is looking to establish itself on Marquette's campus, and it has nothing to do with sororities, fraternities, volunteer work or even a foreign language. Rather, it's all about robots.

Sponsored by the colleges of Engineering and Communication, the Robotics Team is comprised of mostly Marquette University High School students who are mentored by Marquette University students. Team members compete in the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics Competition.

The team competed in its 2006 FIRST Wisconsin Regional last weekend, where it took 26th place out of 34 teams and also earned the Xerox Creativity Award.

Each school competes on a randomly-assembled teams, or alliances, of robots that includes two other schools. Going into the quarter finals, Marquette's team was in the seventh place alliance.

"The FIRST competition is a worldwide competition designed to give young engineers experience in a team of other prospective engineers, striving to accomplish some task for that respective year," said Adam Michaels, president of the Robotics Team and sophomore in the College of Engineering.

"This year students had to build a robot to shoot through hoops and/or push balls through a hole in the bottom of the playing field, all while defending against other teams trying to do the same," he said.

"It becomes a lot of fun when you must finish your task before the deadline and work as a team to accomplish something greater than yourself," Michaels said. "When else will you have a chance to accomplish something like this?"

For Carole Burns, technical support specialist and self-proclaimed "team mom," watching the team interact and compete with people who share the same interests was one of the most rewarding parts of the event.

"The kids you see involved are highly motivated towards the engineering field," Burns said. "While some of them may be in sports at their high school, some aren't.

"This offers them a team," she said. "These are the kids that we are one day going to want building our airplanes. To be able to use the tools they've been playing with at home is fun for them. Here is their chance to focus in with their friends and to build something together."

According to Joseph Schimmels, faculty adviser for the team and professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, giving students the chance to develop their interest in engineering will in turn be beneficial for the larger community.

"We live in a world in which the rate of technology development is accelerating," he said. It is "important that we continue to develop people who are willing to create new technologies directed to making the world a better place."

Michaels said he plans to begin recruiting in the coming weeks to measure interest in the team. Once the participation level is determined, the organization should be set to formally begin in the 2006-'07 school year.