This spring, members of Park’s Competition Robotics team qualified to compete at the VEX IQ Rapid Relay State Championship, and came away with the coveted Sportsmanship Award. Their advisor, David Raabe, announced the recognition at our first Morning Meeting back from March Break, and the assembled 5–8 student body burst into enthusiastic applause. Eighth Grade Robotics team member Nick reflected, “Thanks to Mr. Raabe’s support, our team spent countless hours—using our lunch, recess, electives, and after school time—refining our robot. Getting the States invite was incredibly exciting for all of us.”
Being recognized for making it to the state competition was huge—and the sportsmanship award was a proud recognition that these students truly embody what it means to be part of a team at The Park School. As Assistant Head of School for Curriculum and Instruction Ken Rogers observed, “These kids really found their place, their passion, in activities that gave them the wonderful opportunity of being part of a team, of producing something great and important in partnership with other students.” Given the opportunity to work together, learn together, and compete, the Competition Robotics team came together with shining results. This program so naturally enhances the fabric of Park student life that it’s easy to forget that only two years ago, the Competition Robotics program didn’t exist.
Ken Rogers joined Park in 2020, originally as Upper Division Head, and when after school activities returned to normal after the pandemic, he saw how actively Park’s Upper Division students engaged in those offerings. “It seemed like most everyone had a place after school,” he says, with either team sports or drama. He also noticed, however, that there were students who were excited about engineering and coding, and there was nowhere in Park’s program for them to explore and pursue that passion in a consistent way.
At his previous school, Ken partnered with the Makerspace educator to build a Competition Robotics club at the high school and middle school levels, and saw how much pride students took in what they accomplished, and how much they enjoyed the teamwork. “Naturally,” Ken says, “I hoped we could start something similar here.” Ensuring that kids have opportunities to explore their passion at school increases their desire to stay at school beyond the academic day—and, equally important, to see their school as a place that supports them just as much as it supports the athletes and actors. “Students show up differently,” he notes, “when they feel their skillset is something to be celebrated as an asset.”
There was no shortage of enthusiasm on the part of Park’s faculty—math teacher David Raabe quickly stepped up to lead the program. In its second year, science teacher Hannah McGowan was instrumental in coordinating and preparing students for competition. More recently, makerspace educator Aaron Williams has assisted at off campus events. The VEXcode IQ competition program is formally structured, presenting new challenges each year, and an effective program leader serves as coach, mentor, and guide as students develop the skills required to master each challenge. Students need to use code differently, understand the relevant gear ratios and physics, and apply all this knowledge in an iterative and collaborative manner.
Robotics challenges students to think iteratively, learning what doesn’t work, ruling out that approach and trying other things. It challenges students to work with their hands. — Ken Rogers
Competition is a tremendous learning experience. Participants are not only recognized for “winning,” but also for the effectiveness of their teamwork, organization, executive functioning, and social emotional skills that we seek to teach in school. They are expected to interact with judges and with students from other teams, and to bring a high level of focus, maturity, and engagement—something you don’t always see in Middle School.
Ken observes, “Robotics challenges students to think iteratively, learning what doesn’t work, ruling out that approach and trying other things. It challenges students to work with their hands. They learn how to use and fabricate tools, gaining understanding of how metal works, and how friction works, in an immediate and meaningful way that textbooks can’t capture.” The level of engagement is high and sincere; they need to learn things to accomplish their goal, and the knowledge gained is real—even if the students don’t know it yet. There will come a time, Ken knows, “when they’ll be in a physics class and realize ‘a ha…that’s what I was doing!’”
Along with that engagement comes empowerment. Creating something that can actually DO something gives students a level of power and control that reinforces their self-esteem. “The sense of agency and validation that comes from being able to step back and say ‘I did that’ is pretty remarkable,” Ken says, “and it is particularly essential for the middle school age bracket. Given Park’s mission, it just makes sense.”
The team’s success is particularly impressive given the lack of a dedicated space appropriate to their needs. At 3:15 p.m. four afternoons each week, teammates march over to the robotics store room, a former faculty office located at the far end of the Grade 5 hallway, where their equipment—including their 8 foot by 8 foot competition table—is stored on a series of rolling racks and platforms. Working together, students wheel their materials down hallways and around corners to the Grade 6 Collaboration Space, where they set up their platform and get to work. And, as they approach their 4:30 dismissal time, they break everything down, load everything back onto wheels, and convey it all back to storage, ready to start over the next day.
At first, David Raabe reports, it took a good chunk of time to get everything set up, and then break things down again, “but they’ve become really efficient at it! Focused, collaborative, and eager to get going. Now they have everything set up and ready to go in under 10 minutes!” Still, that’s 10 minutes at the front end, and another 10 at the back end, and a total of 80 minutes per week that could have been devoted to problem solving and practice with their robots. They need more dedicated space than what they have now.
As Competition Robotics gains momentum, new challenges and opportunities arise. While the after school program was originally created as a “team” opportunity parallel to athletics or drama for students passionate about engineering and coding, other students became excited about robotics as well. Upper Division Head Jimmy Manyuru notes, “We have kids in athletics and drama who’ve seen what robotics has done and want to be part of it. Their interest is not ‘either/or,’ it’s ‘both.’”
Responding to this interest, Park’s Upper Division this year added robotics to the array of in-school electives choices and the demand shown by the participation levels shows that this opportunity answers to a need. Between the after school program and electives, 26 students participated in robotics in the 2024-2025 school year. As the program continues to evolve, we anticipate adding structures to define “learning” and “competition” levels, finding ways to balance opportunities for students participating through in-school electives with the opportunities available to those who make the commitment to the after school team. The growth and potential is just beginning to be realized.
As the students tackle robotics challenges, Jimmy sees elements of The Park Portrait at work. The qualities of creative problem solving and joyful learning are immediately evident—but success also depends on skillful communication with coaches and teammates, mindful leadership, confident advocacy, and compassionate collaboration. “Sometimes they navigate tension points,” Jimmy says, “with teammates incorporating what each has to offer. If someone makes an error, they need to work together to find a way that helps them ‘fail forward.’ Knowing what not to do, and having a problem you need to solve for, lends itself easily to iterating, and to building resilience. The more questions asked, the better the learning.”
Further, Jimmy notes, there’s an opportunity for transformation. “I’ve seen kids who struggle to maintain attention or follow instructions, and to meet the expectations set for them in other classes. But in robotics— whether they’re competing or supporting others—they are all in. The best version of themselves comes out.” David Raabe expands on this, noting that “At States, the Park team came ready with green pompoms and cheered for their teammates in every match. We made it known that this is a team that really supports each other.”
In addition, David appreciates the opportunity the team provides for older students to mentor younger students, and for younger students to learn from older peers. “It’s like the Isaac Newton quote about standing on the shoulders of giants. Our first year students have years worth of knowledge they can rely upon due to the support of the veterans on the team. That’s why we are so successful.”
The robotics program is the latest in Park’s history of trying out new ideas that harness the energy and enthusiasm of teachers and students, and then, when the program takes root, developing the physical plant resources to properly support them. It’s the opposite of the “if you build it, they will come” concept: the program itself was born and grew and flourished even without anything being “built.” The energy and passion is already there.
This represents an investment in a program that already has a very high level of return, and it’s loaded with possibilities we can’t even imagine yet. — Ken Rogers
As this academic year comes to a close, with the launch of the latest phase of The SPARK Campaign, Park will create the dedicated space that will help this vibrant program continue to grow. Space currently devoted to bathrooms, under-utilized locker rooms and storage in Park’s West Building will be redesigned to create newly modernized changing and bathroom facilities while redistributing space to allow for the creation of a new Robotics Lab.
Head of School Scott Young is particularly excited about the ways in which this program will broaden the concept of what it means to be on a team at Park. “The new Robotics Lab will be adjacent to the West Gym, where our athletics teams compete. It underscores our commitment to the idea that there are different ways for students to be part of a team.” With the redesign and the addition of a reception lobby, Scott envisions a space alive with activity, a welcoming place for current students and families as well as visiting athletics and robotics teams and spectators—a real community hub.
Reflecting on the value of the program, Jimmy Manyuru notes that as he talks with Park Grade 8 students, they often express appreciation for the new experiences they have had the chance to try for the first time. “The more space we can make for this exploration,” he says, “the stronger their experience will be.”
Given how well the robotics program has thrived using what space it could find, it’s exciting to imagine what will be possible when the program has purpose-designed facilities. David notes, “The program is built around the students—their curiosity and excitement is what pushes the program forward. It’s emergent curriculum at its best.” Ken notes, “We couldn’t be more excited about the opportunities ahead. This represents an investment in a program that already has a very high level of return, and it’s loaded with possibilities we can’t even imagine yet. Our students have demonstrated that they will take advantage of whatever they’ve been given, and this can only keep growing. We’re going to have students designing amazing things.”
By Suzy Akin, Director of Strategic Marketing & Communications
First published in the Summer 2025 issue of The Park School Bulletin