Giving their BEST

Students involved in the RCS Engineering organization are getting more out of it than just something to fill their time. These students are gaining experience and confidence that will help them later on in life, and that experience is coming in the form of a competition that will take place today at the Muscle Shoals campus of Northwest Shoals Community College.

The competition is sponsored by BEST Robotics, Inc., which is a non-profit and volunteer-based organization whose purpose is to get middle and high school students interested in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

The BEST competition has been around since 1993 and more and more schools have joined the different regions, or “hubs” as they are called in BEST, since that time.

Russellville City Schools became involved in the competition in 2009 through the newly formed Robotics Team, which has now evolved to RCS Engineering.

Russellville Middle School teacher Lee Brownell, who serves as the advisor for RCS Engineering, said the students have been busy this year working on all the different components that will be judged at today’s competition, including a marketing presentation, an engineering notebook, a product booth and, of course, a robot.

“Each year, BEST comes up with a different scenario that becomes the premise of the competition,” Brownell said. “For this year’s scenario, BEST created the fictitious genetic engineering firm ‘BEST Labs.’

“The lab was doing genetic testing on several species of bugs but the bugs got loose, so they have ‘employed’ all the schools who are participating in the competition to create a robot that can gather up all the bugs from a ‘construction site’ and return them to the lab.”

Brownell said the students in RCS Engineering have not only had to build a robot that can gather up the simulated bugs that will be strewn around a makeshift construction site, but they will also have to create a marketing presentation that highlights their product, a booth that displays the projects they have created (including the robot and an interactive bug-catching computer game), and they must also chronicle all the work they have done in an engineering notebook.

Senior Shelby Brownell, president of RCS Engineering, said participating in the organization and in the competition will give her much-needed experience for her future.

“At this competition, we have to present ourselves as a professional business, which makes it seem more real and more important,” she said. “This is a competition, but your business and products are also at stake, which is how it will be in the real world.”

“This is definitely a hands-on organization,” Jose Figueroa, 18, added. “We’re learning so many things and studying mechanics that will make society better. You actually get to work on these things instead of just read about them.”

Dakota Bonn, 16, said he was proud to be part of an organization that took all types of students and gave them one common goal to work towards.

“Some of these kids I might not have hung out with otherwise, but RCS Engineering gave me the chance to meet different people,” he said. “This organization also shows kids there are more things you can do in middle school and high school than just sports. You can branch out and try something that will help you in the future.”

An organization that spans from middle school to high school might seem like it covers too broad of an age range, but Ashley Figueroa, 15, said there’s something for everyone to learn.

“I’ve actually been able to improve my public speaking skills through the competitions,” she said. “Even though I’m not about to graduate, I’m still learning skills that will help me once I do graduate and go to college.”

Several people throughout the community have showed support for the program and Monday evening, RCS Engineering held a community night where they were able to show their supporters all their different projects and the presentation thy will use today at competition.

“These students have worked hard to prepare for this competition,” Brownell said. “We want our supporters to see what all we have been able to accomplish and the products we will take to competition that will represent Russellville.”

The competition will take place from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. today at the gym on the Muscle Shoals campus of NWSCC. Brownell said community members are encouraged to attend the competition because the more support they have, the more points they could potentially receive from the judges.

If RCS Engineering places in the top two positions during the Northwest Alabama BEST Hub Competition today, they will advance to Auburn for the next phase, which will include schools from across the country.