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Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

MU student starts youth robotics program

McElrath offers promising example for local kids

Through his own experience with robot competition, Melvin McElrath helped spark Milwaukee high school students’ interest in science through a robotics program he created at the Milwaukee Academy of Science.

McElrath, a senior in the College of Engineering and Milwaukee native, first got involved with robotics at his high school, Messmer High School.

He played a large part in an inaugural robotics program during his junior and senior year.

The FIRST Robotics Competition is a national program that works to build awareness and interest in science and engineering among school-aged youth, providing challenging and skill-building opportunities, according to the National Society of Black Engineers Golden Torch submission.

“Previous to my experience with FIRST, I was interested in biology,” McElrath said in an e-mail. “Participating in FIRST has helped me realize the phenomenal opportunities available in engineering, which has led me to pursue biomedical engineering.”

McElrath, president of Marquette’s NSBE chapter, worked with NSBE’s faculty advisor Michelle Johnson to create a robotics program for the school in 2008.

The academy was chosen by NSBE because of its close proximity to Marquette and also because of the relationship established with the school through the NSBE junior chapter, McElrath said.

“It is a world class engineering competition with real hands-on engineering problem solving,” McElrath said.

McElrath is still a mentor with the program today.

“Being a mentor has made me more appreciative of the mission of FIRST,” McElrath said. “It’s really cool as an engineering student to see the kids solving engineering problems with equal or more complexity than the problems I face in college.”

McElrath has mentored students through development of robots. One way they can do that is from a standard kit, when students have six weeks to build a robot given to them by FIRST to enter into a competition.

The entrance fee for the competition alone is $6,000, but the program was able to get going thanks to $15,000 in donations from General Electric in the first two years, McElrath said.

Jeff DeGlopper, the sixth to 12th grade science director at MAS, worked with McElrath and the students at MAS to get the program started.

DeGlopper said the children entered without knowing how to use any of the tools in detail. This gave them a chance to apply principles they learned in classes and develop those skills.

Johnson described McElrath as dedicated and hard worker in an e-mail.

“Melvin was instrumental in making sure the team had student mentors and he became a very valuable mentor for the team in the first year and continues to be,” Johnson said.

DeGlopper, who said he was slightly nervous about starting a robotics program with no previous background, said he was fortunate to have McElrath’s help.

“I can’t even tell you how much he helped us,” DeGlopper said. “He started out working once a week, and as time went on started coming six days a week to work with the students.”

Johnson said the program’s success hinges on many people.

“Melvin’s role is important in that he provides the student with an accessible mentor,” Johnson said. “His history, being from Milwaukee and a student at Messmer, allows students to see themselves in him and maybe think that being an engineer is accessible to them also.”

McElrath is excited that MAS has implemented a robotics class stemming from the program he created. He looks forward to the future of the program and is hopeful that more students will get involved as the program continues to grow.

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