On Monday, April 11, two representatives from Trial and Error Robotics visited River City Early College (RCEC) to speak to students about FIRST and our team. We gave two presentations between 9:00 am and 12:00 pm to the sophomore leadership classes, showing a slideshow presentation about the sub-groups that make up our team and their respective projects, as well as giving information about what other parts of the Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC) do. Afterward, the students had the opportunity to grab a pamphlet if they were interested.

RCEC is a dual enrollment program where students take both high school classes and college classes at Hinds Community College. Being created only six years ago, The idea for RCEC was formulated by the current principal, Dr. Tammy Smith. It has since grown to over 400 students, and the student body moved to a new building. Hinds works with RCEC to help high school students graduate with both their high school diploma and Associate’s degree free of charge. 

Our presentation was a showcase of what Trial and Error Robotics is and how significant the skills learned in FIRST Robotics can be for a future job. A part of the presentation was the transition from FIRST Lego League to FTC to a career, shown through a robot from our previous FTC season as well as a more advanced robot from Mr.Cody’s professional work at ERDC. Among these models were an altered RC car as well as an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), aka drone, from his work to show what being on Trial and Error Robotics can lead to.

In the end, our efforts were successful. Although Lauren, our team member and RCEC student, was not in attendance at the presentations, she spoke with a couple of classmates who said they were interested in joining the team. If you or anyone else would like to join the team, you can email us at ftc10191@gmail.com or contact us through our various social media outlets (Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook @trial.and.error.10191). Also, feel free to visit our website Trial And Error Robotics for more information about the team and our activities.