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Sylvan Hills robotics team raises funds to compete in national, world championships

High school students at Sylvan Hills are dreaming of competing in national and world championships. But they need funds to make that happen.

SHERWOOD, Ark. (KTHV) — While many high-schoolers are spending time tweeting, texting and Snapchatting, a group of talented students at Sylvan Hills High School are building incredible robotics machines.

The school’s robotics team is building high tech robots and competing across the state on weekends. The team has the dream of attending the National and World Championship Robotics Competitions.

Hayden Moelter, a senior on the robotics team, said that being able to go to the competitions is about so much more than representing his school well.

“It’s representing the state of Arkansas and I want to put out there that Arkansas is really great at robotics,” he said. “Getting to the world’s experience would be like representing Team USA in the Olympics.”

He said the entire team wants to display their talents to the rest of the world and show them the robotics program that Sylvan Hills and America has to offer.

Although Moelter and his team have qualified to go to both competitions, their team has to raise $20,000 by the end of April to attend. They're trying to prepare for the competition but their time is filled with fundraisers to raise money for all their expenses. They've done upwards of 12 fundraisers around the city asking for central Arkansas' help.

Team member, Briley Rogers, said a lot of people have been putting in their time for fundraising causing them to sacrifice practice time.

“There was a lot of us not being able to go to robotics to get stuff ready for robotics and competitions,” she said.

As the students scramble to raise money for their upcoming competitions they are also trying to find a new place to practice. Robotics team advisor, Sharon Stuthard, said upcoming construction around the school means they are going to lose their practice facility this upcoming year.

Right now, the team has a fenced off area in a trailer they will be able to use until the school year ends.

“They are going to take it away as soon as this year is over,” she said. “Next year we have no idea where all our supplies and all of our field and all of our robots will be.”

The team needs the help of community members to make their dream of attending the competitions come true. They said they are worth investing in.

“We’re the generation of the future that will eventually be the backbone of the country,” Moelter said. “Investing in youth and programs like this that will help us grow as individuals is incredibly important.”

If you are interested in helping to provide funds for the team, contact the robotics booster program at 501-626-5656. You can also email them or donate to their GoFundMe account.

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