MORGANTOWN — The kids of Mountaineer Area RoboticS, or MARS, are great at two things — spreading the gospel of STEM and building some really cool stuff.
Three things, actually, if you count making adults feel inadequately educated.
All three skills were on display Wednesday as members of the group made a presentation to the Monongalia County Commission, which previously provided an allocation of $3,000 out of its current budget to assist with the group’s technologically-focused endeavors.
Recently, those endeavors have included winning their subdivision at the at the World Championships for the first time, bringing home the gold from a competition in Tennessee and reaching the finals of another in South Carolina.
The team of 38 members is made up of students representing eight schools in Monongalia and surrounding counties. They build 120-pound robots that compete on a 30’x60’ game field with the goal of performing specific tasks.
But the technical only covers a part of the group’s mission. When not competing, MARS is engaged in public outreach and recruiting.
“This is all part of the methodology that we call the MARS Plan, where the goal is to spread STEM throughout West Virginia, which is sometimes a difficult task,” Ibrahim Rahman, a high school junior who serves as the team’s lead programmer explained. “The goal is to create leaders. We want these people to learn STEM and go on to college, get high-level jobs learning how to deal with difficult problems and benefit their community, their county, their state and their country.”
Learn more about the group at mars-first.squarespace.com.
In other county news, the commission approved a contract with Global Sciences & Technology for IT support at a monthly cost of $560.
The commission also signed off on proclamations for local nonprofit organizations declaring Saturday National Nonprofit Day. Tweet @DominionPostWV.
