Jomana Morkous didn’t experiment with robotics until her sophomore year, as she and her peers were founding Freeman High School’s new robotics club, Mav Mechanics. 

“As a kid, I had so little opportunity to do this kind of thing,” Jomana said. 

Now, as a rising senior, she wants to bring that opportunity to students earlier.

Jomana and other club members organized a week-long, student-led robotics camp for elementary and middle schoolers earlier this month. More than 80 third through eighth graders signed up. 

Though the camp served as a fundraiser for the club – raising about $10,000 – Jomana said the main purpose for her and her peers has been to pass on the passion. 

“The goal is that this is something that they enjoy, this is something that is fulfilling to them,” Jomana said. “Hopefully this is something that can inspire kids to do more robotics.”

The camp was split into a morning session and an afternoon session, with students dividing into small groups and working with their mentor on an assigned project. Projects involved building and programming a robot to complete a certain task, such as navigate a course while avoiding obstacles. Students learned through trial and error, and lots of teamwork. “What if we tried…” was a common refrain around the room. 

But it wasn’t just the younger kids who were learning. 

Jomana said organizing and running the camp taught her and her teammates a lot, too, from the social skills required to engage with people of different age groups to how to manage drop-off and pick-up and other event logistics. 

“The best part is, you can take a step back and reevaluate,” she said. “You iterate, you try again.”