Huge win for S.T.E.M.! TVA donates $5000 to WCPS robotics

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – A group of generous retirees from the Tennessee Valley Authority donated $5,000 towards robotics programs throughout the Warren County Public School district. 

TVA Community Relations Specialist Jana Sublett said, “Tennessee Valley Authority provides power to the local power company. So, we’re all in this together. We all see the value in, you know, being able to have robotics and S.T.E.M. education because those are the workforce we will be hiring in ten or 15 years.”

The county schools are about one of 15 Southcentral Kentucky districts whose robotics clubs will benefit from the TVA’s generosity. Greenwood Robotics used their platform to show off their prized robot.

“We call [our robot] ‘Flatline’ because it tends to do that a lot,” laughed Greenwood Robotics 16515 Junior Anthony Clauson. “The season starts around September and we’ve been building it ever since then.”

Of course, being a part of the Gators Robotics Club means learning advanced engineering, but even more so, these teammates practice leadership and patient mentorship.

“My freshman year it was a team of mostly upperclassmen,” recalled Clauson. “And I was the only new freshman to join the team. So, I had a lot of experienced mentors to just kind of show me what to do. Me and the other second-oldest member of the team are putting together a training course this May to get these newer members of the team caught up to speed. And we all bring our ideas together to teach each other.”

The culture Clauson and then the other upperclassmen have fostered is already changing the lives of their underclassmen, including one new American citizen.

Greenwood Robotics 16515 Freshman Tanvi Thota said, “I came straight from India [this past summer]. The first month was pretty harsh because I didn’t even go out. I wanted to be enjoying friendships. I couldn’t do that in the first few months, but it was totally fine… until I met this team. They’re really good mentors to me, and that made me really happy because I got friends now.”

WCPS says they’ll use the donation money to help purchase an educational robotics kit for classroom use across their district.