Reflecting on a year in which the Robotics team reached semi-finals at Regionals, Adviser Trevor Paulson said he was proud of how much the club accomplished.

“This year went extremely well. We did way better than we were anticipating for. The robots competed and did things above and beyond what our expectations were, exceeded all of the stuff we were technically planning to do,” Paulson said.

Sophomore business captain Isaac Swartz echoed the same feeling of satisfaction and pride in the team’s performance throughout the year.

“(The year) went extremely well. Better than expected, better than ever before,” Swartz said.

Junior captain George O’Hare said although he had high hopes for the team, he was still impressed by the progress the club had made throughout the school year.

“(The year went) about as good as I realistically thought it would. Not as good as I had hoped, but not as bad as I feared,” O’Hare said.

Paulson said he was impressed with how the team performed in competition this year, especially when competing in the semi-finals at Regionals.

“We performed better than we have ever, including if you combine different years. Points scored, ranking, all of those things. We did really well,” Paulson said.

Swartz said although they are proud of their success over this past year, the team has already begun looking ahead to next year.

“We are trying to look to achieve more sponsors. I am looking forward to see our team developing more, because this year was more of a rebuilding year with the new captain,” Swartz said.

O’Hare said starting next year, the robotics team will begin a new program to engage and train its newer members to take on leadership roles.

“Next year, one of the things I am really looking forward to is we are trying a new leadership thing where we are going to get, because I know a lot of teams, you get seniors that are leaving, and there isn’t anyone really pre-trained to replace them and you get a huge dip. So next year we are implementing a whole new system where we have some freshmen and sophomores who are half-captains,” O’Hare said.

O’Hare said the team is focusing on recruiting more members next year, especially from the incoming freshman class. He said the team is not just looking for mechanically-minded people, but also searching for new members who can manage the business of the club.

“We really want to grow our business side of things, that does community outreach, fundraising, that kind of stuff. We want people who know what they are doing,” O’Hare said.