Wyoming Demons

By Greg Chrapek
WKTV Contributor
greer@wktv.org

The Super Bowl of high school robotics in West Michigan took place last weekend at East Kentwood High School and the fans in a jam-packed Falcon gymnasium had plenty to cheer about.

Forty 40 high school robotics teams and about 2,000 fans from across Michigan descended on the gym for the FIRST In Michigan (FIM) District Kentwood Event presented by Dematic.

For the third year in a row, the Grand Rapids West Catholic High School Enigma Robotics team won the district championship. West Catholic also earned the Excellence in Engineering Award and recorded the highest match score in the state.

West Catholic aligned with the Hopkins Tech Vikes and Shelby Tiger Bytes to defeat East Kentwood Red Storm Robotics, Wyoming Demons Robotics and Gull Lake Twisted Devils 2-0 (192-121, 199-111) in a best of three championship.

“We had a great weekend here,” said Anthony Uriarte, one of the coaches of the West Catholic team. “We actually had the state high-record with our alliance this weekend in the eliminations. It was a close match, but we were just really happy that our alliances and partners got together and put up some amazing scores and had a lot of fun.”

West Catholic Enigma Robotics took first for the third year in a row. (Photo Courtesy, FIRST Robotics, Phillip Place)

In this two-day event, teams compete in qualifying rounds and then form alliances with other teams to determine the overall champions in the playoff rounds.

Red Storm Robotics had a neighborhood alliance partnering with the Wyoming Demons Robotics. The partnership worked out great for the team as they placed second and qualified for this week’s state finals that are scheduled to take place from April 3-5 at Saginaw Valley State University.

East Kentwood Red Storm Robotics finished in second place in the districts and also won the Impact Award, considered the most prestigious at the FIRST Robotics Competition. (Photo Courtesy, FIRST Robotics, Phillip Place)

“The 3875 Red Storm Robotics did amazingly well,” said East Kentwood Coach Trista VanderVoord. “We had not performed this well at either of our other competitions. They’ve been really working between competitions to get the robot even more robust. This competition is where it all came together. We had amazing alliance partners. We had the Demons from Wyoming, shout out to them, we love them.

“It all fell into place. They all worked so well together. Enigma (West Catholic) is just a great team and it would’ve been really hard to beat them. They are a force to be reckoned with for sure.”

For the Wyoming Demons squad, the chance to be aligned with East Kentwood in the finals was a great experience.

“This was a fantastic competition for us,” said Wyoming Coach Amy Oostdyk. “We had a rough start at the beginning. After the first rounds we were the 40^th team. We were the last one in the whole competition, but our students never gave up. They just kept fighting and fighting. And doing what they needed to do. No matter what happened. They fought their way back to where we are today in second place.”

Wyoming Demons Robotics 2025. (Photo Courtesy, FIRST Robotics, Phillip Place)

The alliance of neighbors Kentwood and Wyoming was not something new as the two programs have teamed up at other competitions in prior years.

“We were the winners of the Kentwood event together in 2022,” VanderVoord said. “So this was like a reunion for us. We didn’t win the event, but at least we were on an alliance.”

With 12 students, the Wyoming team was one of the smaller squads at the competition. While the team is small in numbers, it has outstanding team chemistry and unity which allows it to be successful.

“We are a very small team,” said Oostdyk, in her second year as Wyoming coach. “We have 12 kids that we brought today. Our team is really close. We are always working to support each other. Because life is complicated for a high school student whether they join a robotics team or not.”

West Catholic Enigma Robotics

Like Wyoming, the champion West Catholic team also is small in numbers with 12 students on the team. What the squad lacks in numbers, it makes up with versatility as the students learn a variety of skills that they blend together.

“We are actually a pretty small program,” Uriarte said. “We have about 12 students and about five active mentors that come on a pretty regular basis. The nice thing about being a small team is it allows the students to be involved in many different aspects. For instance, our drivers are design students. It allows the students to get involved in a lot of things and have a large impact on our program.”

West Catholic is among the premier teams in robotics in the state as they not only have qualified for the state tournament the past several years, but have also advanced to the world competition. Two years ago, the West Catholic team actually advanced to the final rounds at the world competition.

“We have been to the world competition the last five or six years,” said West Catholic co-Coach Matt Dressel. “This year we hope for the same thing, to get to the world competition and compete. We will do the best we can do and see what comes.”

A high school robotics team needs a variety of skills from designing and building the robot to driving the robot and developing marketing skills to acquire backing for the team.

The robotics season typically begins in early January where the students come up with the concept for the robot and then design and build the robot to be ready for competition that begins in March. While the competition season takes place for a few months, robotics teams meet and work on different robotics skills all throughout the school year to prepare for the season.

After competing in different competitions, the teams begin tournament play like the district tournament at East Kentwood.

East Kentwood Red Storm Robotics Coach Trista VanderVoord. (WKTV)

The EK tournament drew a packed and enthusiastic crowd of several thousand to the gymnasium creating a true big-game atmosphere.

“They work for at least eight weeks building something to showcase it for just a short five weeks,” VanderVoord said. “Every event is like our own Super Bowl. We’ve worked so hard to get here and now we get to actually do the thing we built this robot to do. The hype is real. It’s electrifying. It’s loud in here. States will be four-times louder because it’s four fields in the same arena. The energy level is amazing.”

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org

At the end of the week, the school bell may signal the start of the spring break for many, but hundreds of students and their families will be filling the East Kentwood gym for the fifth annual Kentwood District Robotics Competition.

About 40 teams are scheduled to compete at the FIRST Robotics event which is this Friday and Saturday. This includes host team East Kentwood’s Red Storm, Wyoming High School’s Demons, Potter House’s Tactical Hams, and the community team Code Red the Stray Dogs.

“I love it,” said Kris Lima-Viana, from Potter House Tactical Hams about participating in FIRST Robotics. “It is like one of the best things I have ever done in my life. It is very, very intense.”

Top Dawgs: Code Red Robotics the Stray Dogs took home the prestigious Chairman’s Award at the 2018 event. This honor automatically qualified them for the state competition. (WKTV)

Started in 1992, FIRST Robotics is an international competition that is dedicated to inspiring the next generation of engineers and technologists through a robotics competition. FIRST stands for “For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.”

Each year, the challenge is revealed in January with teams having six weeks to building a robot that can accomplish specific tasks. This year’s challenge is Destination Deep Space with teams having to construct a robot that can put hatch panels on a “cargo ship” and fill them with cargo and then escape from the harsh planet Primus.

“I like to see the kids learning,” said Justin Van Etten, coach and mentor for the Wyoming High School Demons. “it is skills they don’t normally get in the classroom. They get machining knowledge. They get welding knowledge. They get knowledge of how to use a grinder and a saw. Stuff that academics does not normally teach you, and just being able to see them do something with their hands and show that they are good at a bunch of different stuff that is not classroom related.”

Color coordinated fans are ready to cheer on their team. (WKTV)

The program’s ultimate goal is to encourage students to purse science and technology careers by showing how everyone’s contributions not only build a robot, but a team.

“Robotics is really like a sport for anyone,” said Audrey Marsman, a member of the East Kentwood Red Storm. “You don’t have to just be interested in building a robot. There are a lot of things that are behind the scenes that aren’t just hands on on the robot that anyone can get involved.”

The free family event starts at 8 a.m. on Friday with matches taking place until 7 p.m. On Saturday, activities start at 8 a.m. with elimination round taking place in the afternoon. Awards are at 5 p.m. There are several different awards, including Chairman’s Award, which qualifies a team to automatically move on to the state competition. For more about the event, click here.