May 15, 2023 By Notre Dame Academy
Neither the coaches nor students involved in the Notre Dame Academy Girls robotics team knew what to expect when they entered the First Tech Challenge (FTC) field competition this year against some of the top schools in the region.
This was a team of rookies – Hingham’s NDA hasn’t fielded a competitive robotics team since 2014 – and members also faced hardship when Covid interrupted their initial launch plans. And while it helped that NDA partnered with Hingham High School robotics in 2019-20 to gain insight and inspiration before embarking on their mission, NDA coaches and team members alike agreed on a simple goal as they prepared for the regional competition at Lexington High School this past season: “Build a robot that can complete a task.”
The “Cou-Gears” (the school’s mascot is the Cougar) got to work, and week after week, coaches noticed their improved performance during practices. “The students really dedicated themselves to learning and growing,” said coach Anne Marie Clogston, teacher and chairperson of NDA’s Computer Technology Studies Department, “and not just on the technical aspects of robotics, though their efforts in that area were impressive. They also learned about teamwork, competition, gracious professionalism, and just how far they could go if they set their minds to it.”
And they went far – the rookie NDA team finished a strong seventh overall in its first regional competition, a “robotics meet” made up of 18 teams from communities across Eastern Massachusetts, exceeding everyone’s expectations, including their own. “We were proud of how the kids performed on a big stage in crunch time,” said Lucy Driscoll, a 2009 NDA graduate and now a team mentor. “We were underdogs going into the competition, but the team really put its heart and soul into achieving good results.”
In addition to building and programming their robot, team members compiled a portfolio of all aspects of their experiences, presented their robot at the school’s STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) night; and even baked gear shaped cookies as a handout at competitions and school events in their efforts to build awareness and support for the robotics team.
Team members included senior Emily Lembo (chief robot builder and “build captain”), who is heading to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; senior Delia Jasper, coding captain, who will be attending Northeastern University; and returning team members, including project manager and coder Layla Liu, community outreach coordinators Karen Li (branding and driver) and Lyaa Ngo (marketing), and Tess Canavan, who wore many hats throughout the season including human player during non-autonomous rounds and quality engineer ensuring that the team was in compliance with FTC requirements.
In addition to Anne Marie Clogston, the team was coached by Dan Walker, an electrical engineer whose daughter attends NDA. Team mentors, in addition to Lucy Driscoll, include former principal Kathy Puleo, and Bill Clogston, a software developer at Meta Platforms. Anne Marie and Bill Clogston are parents of two NDA graduates and a third daughter who is finishing up her junior year at the school. The NDA Cou-gears are grateful to Walker Electric and Anderson Trucking Service for their generous sponsorship and Massa Products Corporation for their support.
The team’s goals for next year are to expand membership, continue to improve and compete, and be more proactive in involving the community in its mission and accomplishments. “We want to build on the energy that started this year,” Anne Marie Clogston said. And the gears are already turning!
