By Andrea Smith
Throughout the two-week winter break, a team of four high school students saw each other almost every day at the BrandywineBOTS Innovation Hub, where they strategized and practiced for their upcoming robotics competition.
Team 9039J-Jinx had been building and improving upon their creation for months, designing a robot capable of winning the game played at VEX V5 robotics competitions worldwide. The week of Christmas was filled with anticipation — not for presents under the tree but for the Sugar Rush competition set for January 4-5 at Hershey, Pennsylvania. A victory there would secure their spot at the VEX Robotics World Championship.
“This year was different than most,” says team captain Cooper McDonald, a junior at Mount Pleasant High School. “Most times we just go in like, ‘We’re going to do our best and have fun,’ but this year we felt really prepared and like, ‘We’re going to win it,’ and had that mentality.”
McDonald is the team’s driver who maneuvers the robot to collect blocks for points, and his teammates focus on the 12-by-12-foot field to cue strategic moves and track the score. The game requires working with another team or “alliance partner,” which demonstrates the ability to perform collaboratively. It might look like miniature bumper cars, but there are precise objectives.
As the clock ticked down during the final Sugar Rush match, the competitive spirit of 9039J-Jinx took over, and by the end, the team and their alliance partner had defeated 120 teams to earn a spot at the World Championship.
“Wow, we did that,” McDonald says, still in shock days later.
BrandywineBOTS Robotics launched as a nonprofit in 2020, and since then, 31 of its middle and high school teams have qualified for a world championship tournament. Twenty BrandywineBOTS teams have won regional championship tournaments, and the program has brought home 11 Regional Championship Excellence Awards in addition to other accolades.
Participants come from across Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to design, build, and practice at the BrandywineBOTS Innovation Hub inside the Bellevue Community Center in Wilmington. It’s rarely quiet here as students rustle through metal and plastic parts and navigate through competition fields. There’s also laughter, cheers, and friendly chatter — it’s a social environment open six days a week and most of the year.
“It’s a far drive, but it’s always worth it to come here,” says Naish Lynch, a sophomore on team 9039J-Jinx who lives in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. “I’m never like ‘Oh, I have to go to BOTS.’ It’s a fun place to come.”
Bringing Robotics to the Masses
Local robotics coaches and parents initially formed BrandywineBOTS Robotics to combine six Brandywine School District robotics programs, but it’s grown into an independent program that now welcomes third-through-12th graders from any district.
“The real, original mission was to give STEM opportunities to everybody, especially students that might be in a community that traditionally doesn’t have access to that,” says Jason Heller, BrandywineBOTS co-founder and executive director. “We have a pretty robust scholarship fund, simply to make sure that a kid will never be left out because of a concern about finances.”
This season, the organization gave $5,825 in scholarships and has a full class of 175 participants between the IQ program for third-through-eighth graders and the V5 program for high schoolers. Both programs are volunteer-run and financially supported through sponsorships, grants, donations, and the annual tuition of $450 per IQ participant and $650 per V5 participant. The leadership team welcomes volunteers regardless of their robotics experience, but they’re hoping to recruit more volunteers with STEM backgrounds this year.
“If someone is willing to volunteer, we will find a space for them — whether it’s a day, or once a month, or every week,” volunteer director Elaine McDonald says.
BrandywineBOTS hosts the majority of the Delmarva regional competitions and is a resource for school-based robotics programs. They’ve also partnered with the youth nonprofit UrbanPromise Wilmington to launch the first of many planned satellite programs across Delaware.
“We’re probably the largest [nonprofit] program on the East Coast,” Heller says. “I believe we have a responsibility to support and build the region to be able to support the size of the program that we have.”
New this semester, the nonprofit is expanding with a program in the Claymont Community Center called the BrandywineBOTS STEM Academy, which will host “mini camps” or unique interactive classes, each lasting four to six weeks. Camps will cover a variety of topics, such as 3D printing or coding for adaptive technology, and offer something for kindergarten through high school. Registration for the next season of robotics opens in the spring, but the mini camps will open this month at BrandywineBots.org.
“The two competition programs [are] a big commitment,” Heller says. “The goal is just to have something for everybody, and maybe [BrandywineBOTS STEM Academy] becomes a feeder into the competition program, or maybe it’s just an activity for kids to do that they’ll enjoy.”
Believe. Overcome. Transform. Succeed.
Most graduates of the robotics program go on to college with a STEM major, but STEM aspirations aren’t a requirement for entry. To be successful in robotics, one needs to be an innovative thinker, clear communicator, and team player. Participants develop these skills and build character throughout each season.
“During the building stages, we had to break [the robot] down a lot and build it back up,” eighth grader Tejasvi Kasireddy illustrates. “That built my perseverance, and I’m more patient now.”
Aidan Burns, a member of the winning 9039J-Jinx team and a junior at Salesianum School, believes he’s on track to meet his goal of becoming a commercial pilot thanks to the opportunities he’s had to hone engineering and critical thinking skills. “Robotics [is] a teamwork environment. It really helps me train and practice in high-stress environments,” he says. “I’m going to use this experience, take it to college, and go become a pilot.”
Elaine McDonald has two sons in the program, including Cooper McDonald of 9039J-Jinx. “This is the first time they came into a competition just really well prepared,” she says. “I think it’s because all those years of experience build that confidence and build those skills, and they’re much more efficient with their time.”
Still, she appreciates the enthusiasm of the youngest participants: “They get really excited about small things,” she says. “For the most part, it does grow in competitiveness, but we do have a lot of teams that, even in high school, they’re just here to have fun and compete, but not necessarily win a world championship. So that’s the nice thing, is that there’s a spot for all of those teams.”
At any age, the program encourages young people to overcome adversity. “BOTS is an acronym (Believe, Overcome, Transform, Succeed) that kind of loosely translates to the engineering design process,” Heller explains. “We want them to believe in their concept, right? And believe in themselves and that they can do it. But there’s going to be barriers along the way, so they need to overcome those barriers, transform their mindset, and that’s how they’re going to succeed.”
Outside of BrandywineBOTS, members of 9039J-Jinx are athletes, honor society members, and ambitious students. Inside the Innovation Hub, they’re still practicing for their next competition, motivated to win on the world stage. Additionally, they’re mentoring younger participants in the program. Nin Amores, a junior at Mount Pleasant High School and member of 9039J-Jinx, encourages fellow female competitors to advocate for themselves and dream big.
“As a female in this field, a lot of people won’t believe you until you do it,” Amores says with a shrug. “I want to see other people do the best that they can, and show them that [winning] is possible.”
— To learn more about their programs, visit BrandywineBOTS.org.
Above: “The real mission of BrandywineBOTS is to give STEM opportunities to everyone,” says program founder Jason Heller.