Four Scottsdale high schools offering robotics classes after student petition

PHOENIX — Four Scottsdale high schools are teaching pupils to build robots after students petitioned to have their club added as a regular course for this academic year.

“It (robotics) has always been an after-school club and we weren’t really getting any credit for it, other than an extracurricular credit,” Saguaro High School junior Laney Olson said.

In addition to Saguaro, Arcadia, Chaparral and Coronado Desert Mountain high schools are also offering the course.

“I can’t wait to tell our robotics clubs that all the hard work they’ve been putting in after school will now have academic status and mean something on their high school transcripts,” Scottsdale Unified School District Superintendent Denise Birdwell said in a release.

Olson said she and other students wanted robotics — which had been offered as a club since 2012 — to be taught during the day so they would not miss out on other experiences, such as band or sports.

“So many people were not able to participate due to that fact that, after school, they had other obligations,” she said. “We had the idea to petition to have it as a class during the day at school.”

Olson said students in the class learn a lot about the field, “from basic engineering fundamentals to the specifics of a robotics team.”

She also said the club has the potential to improve the odds of getting into college.

“You will meet people who have similar interests as you and the program that we do robotics with offers incredible scholarships for people who invest a lot of time into it,” Olson said.

KTAR News’ Bob McClay contributed to this report.

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