Help Send Tech-Savvy Kids to World Robotics Festival

Last Thursday evening the Peekskill robotics club was gathered around a table at the Field Library’s children’s room enthusiastically working with hundreds of Lego pieces, robots and a laptop, and using remotes to make the mechanical devices move.

The Yorktown Robotics club has been mentoring the Peekskill and Cortlandt children, ages 9 to 11, every week for the last six months at the Peekskill Field library. The Yorktown group, mostly Middle School students who have been involved for a few years, teach the ideals and practices of FIRST Lego League(FLL). FLL is a group dedicated to engaging children with science and technology while emphasizing core values relevant to all areas of life.

The Yorktown group, Darwinci’s Apprentices, took second place at the Hudson Valley First Lego League Championship tournament in February and was invited to compete amongst 85 international teams at the FLL World Robotics Festival in St. Louis on April 27. They are working to raise $2500 to bring Peekskill’s Luke Rossi, 9; Tejhn Lawrence, 10; and Cortlandt’s Dylan Cartegena, 10, along with them for the experience. The group has raised about $500 dollars and is asking the community to donate whatever they can to help out with the cause.

“(The festival) is such an exciting place to be,” said Sastry Duri, a Senior Software Engineer at IBM Research from Yorktown, who established the Yorktown group with Indira Rajan, a youth activity leader also from Yorktown, a few years ago. “We want them to feel it and not just hear about it and for them to come back and act as ambassadors and get more participation. We want it to come from the heart,” Duri said.

The group asks for any donation, understanding times are tough for many families, but believing the opportunity to provide the three intelligent young men to be part of an International competition is a valuable cause with a larger purpose. The FLL cultivates talented young scientists and technologists while teaching core values that focus on professionalism, teamwork, friendly competition, discover sharing experiences and fun.

“This country is falling behind in science and technology,” said Duri. “We need more young people interested in the subject.”

A regular six children attend the weekly Peekskill meetings, with more joining every week, but Duri and Rajan hope to grow the club into a much larger group. They believe that exposing the three boys, who are enthusiastic and interested in the club, to the World Competition will spark a greater interest among other students in the Peekskill-Cortlandt area.

“I really appreciate the way Mr. Duri works with the students,” said Margery Rossi, explaining her son Luke has been talking about becoming a scientist for years. “He sets clear and high expectations and leaves lots of room for the kids to figure out how to reach them.”

“Its awesome. I will finally get to go to a Lego competition,” said Dillan Cartagena, a nine-year-old Cortlandt elementary student and one of the World Festival hopefuls.

“It is something that a lot of kids should be able to experience. It is just fantastic,” said Brenda Cartagena, Dylan’s mom.

To donate click here and you can learn more on the Yorktown Robotics facebook page here.

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