The robotic team at Patrick Henry High School, well-known as Herobotics, with the help of other Minneapolis robotics teams, recently secured a grant from Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) to purchase a $20,000 world class aluminum competition field to be installed at MURA Field. This field is inside the former Lincoln School at Penn Avenue and 12th St. N. Minneapolis Robotic teams will have a new competitive edge as they practice to increase their skills in local, state and national robotics events. The MURA Field has become the model or prototype of a practice field and is referred to as Hub. The model is being copied in five other parts of Minnesota. MURA Field, as a Competitive Robotics Hub, was the model on which DEED formed the larger statewide grant.
So you may ask, “How has engineering and robotics become such an integral facet of Henry High?” It started with a Diversity Inclusion Grant from FIRST ROBOTICS (an international high school robotics competition) in 2008. The Herobotics Team at Henry later founded Minneapolis Urban Robotics Alliance (MURA) in 2015 to promote increased involvement in FIRST for Minneapolis robotics teams. Over the years MURA has grown from three FIRST robotics teams to 16 teams, with almost every Minneapolis high school having a competitive robotics team. Herobotics and MURA are now working with Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) to expand the Middle School FIRST Technical Challenge (FTC) program to include all 12 middle schools, thus extending participation in STEM/STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, (Art), and Mathematics).
In 2018 the idea for MURA Field started with a group of Herobotics students at Henry High School presenting a proposal to their principal, Yusuf Abdullah. He championed the case at the school district level for a robotics practice field at Lincoln School and secured approval for the competitive practice field to be established there. MURA Field serves all middle level FTC and upper level FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) robotics teams in Minneapolis, as well as multiple teams across the metro area. Teams from Edina, St. Cloud and St. Paul all have practiced at MURA Field. The current MURA practice site at Lincoln was supported with coordinating contributions from sponsors Boston Scientific, Seagate and space from MPS.
The renewed competitive level field is similar to the size of a basketball court. In addition to the soon-to-be-installed aluminum practice field, the Lincoln site has a fabrication tool shop for robot construction, a 3-D printer, a parts library, and a secure area for teams to store their robots. Significantly, it has become a place where teams of varying resources and skills collaborate with each other.
Henry’s Herobotics has unprecedentedly advanced to international championships for 10 of the past 12 years. “Not many urban teams in the world have advanced to world championships as has Henry,” said David Sylvestre, Henry engineering teacher and legacy advisor. “Herobotics has thrived at Henry because of long-time dedicated community volunteers like Lead Mentor Jack Skogen and Mentor Julie Voight. Henry’s team has also benefited from team graduates who come back to volunteer and help the team. The mentors’ knowledge and expertise has helped the team to be sustainable.” According to teacher/Herobotics advisor Latoya Grier, “The Herobotics Team has had 50 percent female representation for over five years. This year we have recruited a female engineering mentor.”
If you are interested in learning more about Henry High’s robotics program contact Herobotics at Herobotics2500@gmail.com.
Note: The Minneapolis Public Schools district office is considering moving the engineering program and staff out of Henry in their proposed comprehensive design model. (See mpls.k12.mn.us\cdd Comprehensive Design site.) This will risk the Herobotics relationships with Camden Community associations and community members. Many stakeholders believe that this will put at risk all that has been built with Henry’s Herobotics collaborations across the world. Regarding the MPS Comprehensive District Plan: The district office said that there would be a meeting in each high school the week of March 2nd to present info with the public. As we go to print they have not shared which evening that will be at Henry.
Attend this upcoming meeting if you want to learn about any of these changes proposed by the MPS District Office
Come to this Camden Community public meeting
at the North Market
4414 Humboldt
Avenue North
Saturday, March 7 from 1-3 p.m.
MPS School Board Member and Camden resident
Kerry Jo Felder
will convene the gathering
She is also glad to get your input and answer questions
Contact her at 612-757-6470 or KerryJo.Felder@mpls.k12.mn.us
Additional meetings regarding the proposed Minneapolis Public Schools Comprehensive District Design regarding high school boundaries and Career Technical Education were held on February 24 and 26, after the deadline of this Camden News. For updates visit mpls.k12.mn.us/cdd.