×

Great time for learning in our schools

Forty teams of students are in town for the FIRST Robotics district competition this weekend at Alpena High School. The teams, including several from Northeast Michigan, began arriving Thursday and had practice on Thursday evening. The competition got under way Friday and concludes today. The event was expected to draw around 1,000 people to the high school.

On May 12 the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary will host the MATE ROV competition with teams competing for a chance to go to the international competition. The competition draws around 30 teams every year, and a few years ago the sanctuary hosted the international competition.

Students from area schools are going on the Lady Michigan and studying the shipwrecks, they are studying how the watershed is affected by how we live, they are studying invasive species. The list of hands-on, real-life learning is long and interesting. And area teachers — and sanctuary staff — who are leading the charge should be commended not only for making learning fun, but showing students the real-life effects of what they are learning; less reading, more doing.

A big part of me is envious of the students who are able to take part in these events. These kinds of opportunities weren’t available when I was going to school. The closest we got to hands-on learning was making white lightning in chemistry class.

In this day where craft beer and spirits are all the rage, who knew we were 40 years ahead of our time making hooch from a few simple ingredients. We gave our chemistry teacher a hard time about how he was taking our moonshine and selling it, which I’m not quite sure if he denied it or not. To keep the record straight, he was a really good instructor and was our class adviser as well. He was one of my best teachers, he just happened to have us make booze one time.

It was a simple process, though I don’t remember the ingredients or the exact process 40 years later. I do remember we put it into a five-gallon glass jug, put a balloon over the spout and then stored it in the dark. It was supposed to take about four weeks if I recall, but three weeks into the process there was a muffled “pop” during class and Mr. Soderquist’s face lit up, “Someone’s is ready.”

It turned out to be my lab partner John Pemberton’s and mine. Everyone got to put a little dab on their finger and touch it to their tongue. Yes, a teacher allowing students to “sample” alcohol in class, go figure. To this day I don’t know why people would drink white lightning, I’m sure that if we put all the jugs in the middle of the room and lit a match we could have blown up that end of the school building. I’d almost be willing to bet gasoline tastes better.

Unless someone was going into the moonshining business, I’m not sure that hands-on experience was as useful as the ones the students have today. Whether it’s FIRST Robotics or ROVs, these students are learning skills that will help them in the real world.

A few year ago when I was the Alpena Lions Club president, the teams that won the local ROV competition and was going to the international competition came to one of our meetings and gave a presentation. At that time, the students were, I believe, freshmen in high school. This team had won when they were in elementary school as well, beating teams that were much older than them.

What impressed the club was how well spoken these students were. Part of the ROV competition is to make a presentation about the team’s ROV, so public speaking is a necessary skill. Many people, young and old, have a hard time speaking in front of a group. But these kids handled it well and I’m sure part of it stemmed from the ROV competitions they took part in.

When that team spoke to the club, none of them said they were interested in that as a career. As time went on, maybe some or all of them changed their minds. It makes no difference because they all benefited in some way from being part of the experience.

The same can be said of the students taking part in this week’s robotics competition. Maybe they will go into the field of robotics, maybe they won’t. No matter what, they will benefit from the experiences. They will be prepared for many things that can throw at them because it’s a skill they are learning in the robotics competitions.

And if you go to watch, if you see a teacher or volunteer mentor, thank them. They are making today’s students tomorrow’s leaders and innovators.

Steve Murch can be reached via email at smurch@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5686. Follow Steve on Twitter @sm_alpenanews.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today