Will Robinson would be proud of the K-12 students who visited Scotlandville Middle Pre-Engineering Academy and Southern University Laboratory School recently for the University’s first Lego® Mindstorms® Robotics Camp. This was the first of two middle school robotics camps, and a second will be held in the spring.

The initiative was funded by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Innovation and Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST). Each camp was staffed with three to four instructors, two high school student assistants and one pre-service teacher to oversee the middle school student participants.

The two primary goals of the camps were to introduce students to the design process and increase students' practical application and problem-solving skills through an intensive NXT computer course and daily robotics design challenges. Each site utilized the NXT Education Getting Started Package. These kits are a starting point for any robotics program, and they included enough sets for 24 students working in pairs and the NXT 1.1 programming software.

East Baton Rouge Parish School System staff participants were: Onetha Albert, Norman St. Amant, Ingrid Cruz, Christina Hillman-Vincent, Judea Goins-Andrews, Dyisha Morgan and Kelvin Gray. The robotics camps were a collaborative project coordinated by Leah Brown, Pamela Johnson, Dr. Michael Stubblefield, Dr. Dwayne Jerro and Dr. Fancesca Mellieon. A spring camp is currently being planned for both sites. The fall Robotics Camp student participants were:

Brian Bolden
Deshund Jackson
Jasmine Taplin
Jasmine Odom
Sydni Sanders
Dakota Whitaker
Trenton Culbert
Melvin Evans
Gwayne Hughes
Anthony Williams
Elijah Taylor
Carl Joseph
Chris Dickson
Kenneth Johnson
Malik Walker
Juanisha Lee
Clarissa Booker
Darron Williams
Brandon Davis