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West Shore School News is a presentation of West Shore Educational Service District in partnership with Mason County Press.
LUDINGTON – Ten high school robotics teams participated in a “friendly competition” scrimmage event last weekend at the UACJ Whitehall Industries First Robotics Practice Facility, located on South Madison Street. The event was a warm-up event for the upcoming First Robotics competition season and was coordinated by MiSTEM Region 9 and the West Shore Educational Service District.
Participating schools included Ludington Area Schools (OBots), Mason County Eastern (Cardinaltronics), Manistee Area Public Schools (M-ste(squared)), Mesick Consolidated Schools (Chronic Robophobia), Whitehall Schools (RoboSharks), Bear Lake Schools (Potential Energy), Reed City Schools (Reed City Cyber Coyotes), CASMAN Alternative Academy (CASMAN Wildcats), Frankfort Schools (FPRO), and Cadillac Public Schools (Cadillac Connectors).
According to Brian Dotson, MiSTEM Region 9 director, much of the work in preparing the facility can be credited to students from Summit Technical Center, the West Shore ESD’s career and technical education program.
“We received help from students in the construction trades, welding and computer technology courses,” Dotson said.
The scrimmage was the first official event to take place at the new facility and was met with much praise.
“This was a wonderful event,” said Dan Trim, MCE coach. “It gave us an opportunity to see how other teams are doing and gave our new team members a taste of competition.”
John Prokes, coach of the Bear Lake team, said the event “Lit a fire for us to make some progress, which we did.”
Submitted photos.
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