Rep. Scott Welcomes Masuk High School Robotics Team Members to Capitol
Hartford— Members of the Masuk High School Robotics team visited the state Capitol Wednesday for a School-Manufacturing Connection Fair. Rep. Tony Scott (R-112) met with members of the team and with Head Coach William McDonough about the recent Worlds Competition and next season’s project.
This is the 13th year of the program in Monroe with about 175 students in grades 6 through 12 participating. The Masuk team had 27 robots competing this year. Two teams of high school students and one from Jockey Hollow Middle School were in Texas during the last week of April for the Worlds competition, featuring teams from 37 countries.
The robotics program is mostly funded through grants and fundraising. McDonough fundraises for the club and has raised more than $40,000 to cover expenses.
“I was interested to learn that the coaches are looking for more involvement from local technology companies. They will have to fill jobs down the road and this extracurricular club would help with the school-to-workforce pipeline,” said Scott.
Team 4478N from Masuk High School joined 4478E, which made it to the final last year, at the worlds event. They were the first team from Connecticut to make it that far. Eighth graders from Team 8878J also qualified for worlds. The theme this year, Spin-Up, had teams build and program robots to launch frisbee-like discs into an elevated goal.