Over the past few years, a lot of positives have been said about the newly-implemented robotics program. Now, Lane’s very own all-girls robotics team recently received notice that they had been invited to be featured in a special exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. Starting May 21, there will be a nationwide exhibit opening, commonly called “Robot Revolution”, which invites participants to experience the world of robots in an interactive form.

Being chosen to be featured in the exhibit is a great honor to the students as well as to Lane and its robotics program. Only 2 teams, nationally, are chosen to participate. Among the students featured in the exhibit was Colleen Masterson, Div. 667, who acted as the team’s programmer in 2013, and a mentor for the younger girls this year.

“To earn [a spot in the exhibit] we reached out to our community to make girls aware of the gender gap. We have gotten our varsity team to 58% girls. Our mission and purpose is what brought the museum to feature our team,” Masterson said.

Mr. Durham, a science teacher at Lane and head coach of the robotics team, has worked with the girls closely and is excited for the exhibit.

“The girls will be featured in an interactive video display that will allow museum visitors to watch a video of them building their robot for this season’s competition,” Durham said.

Another girl featured in the exhibit is freshman student Megan Altman, Div. 853. As this was her first time on the high school team, she is thrilled to be a featured member of the exhibit and has blended well with the other girls.

“It can be a bit annoying being one of the only girls. Because of this team, I was able to meet other girls who also have a passion for science,” Altman said.

The girls attribute a great deal of their success to their coaches, which in addition to Mr. Durham, include Mr. Law, Mr. Solin, Ms. Smit, and Ms. Roscoe.

“Mr Durham has helped so much to keep this team student driven. He has dedicated so much time to help make our robotics program as good as it is,” Altman said.

The robot that the team designed will be featured at the exhibit. It is to be controlled by game controllers, with one student giving instructions and coaching, and the other two girls responsible for controlling its movements and actions. After months of dedication to the project, their work will be paying off.