Our challenge to poverty begins with creating opportunities that honor our core values of dignity, justice, community and impact. It is the role of the Episcopal Community Services’ Out of School Time (OST) program to bring those opportunities to children and enrich their academic and extracurricular experiences.

This year, students from the ECS OST program took part in the Mid-Atlantic First LEGO League Robotics City Wide Competition sponsored by the Robotics Coalition. Fourth and 5th grade participants from Feltonville Intermediate School spent twelve weeks of research, coding and engineering to develop a LEGO robot following the year’s theme: Superpowered. On Sunday, December 11, 2022, members of the ECS Feltonville Intermediate robotics club placed 3rd in the competition, besting Blue Ribbon Schools from across the city.

The ECS Robotics club was formed from a collaboration between Christian Holland, Senior Director of ECS OST, and Ia Houston, computer science teacher at Feltonville Intermediate. With the support of Site Director Jasmine Walker and other members of OST Core Staff, the idea for a robotics club quickly developed into a robust, competition-ready program. The club’s membership featured students with interests ranging from artificial intelligence to mechanics.

Over the course of the twelve weeks, students engaged in various activities and workshops to prepare them for the First LEGO League. On the day of the competition, students spent eight hours at a Robot Game table devising and constructing a LEGO robot fitting with the Superpowered theme while attempting to beat the clock and set a personal best score. A full panel of judges reviewed every aspect of their work, from the coding to the construction and functionality of the final robot and provided feedback to the students from which to learn and further develop their skills.

Feltonville Intermediate is a Title I school. Title I schools educate students from communities experiencing disproportionate levels of poverty. The OST Robotics Club represents another chapter in ECS’ journey to reduce intergenerational poverty by offering students opportunities to explore interests that might otherwise not be available to them.