29-03-2025
SPS robotics program highlights need for more space
Stillwater High sophomore Barbara Laxton isn't afraid to speak up about the Stillwater Public Schools robotics program – whether that's to members of the Board of Education or to friends or anyone else who will listen.
But she has a bigger goal in mind – someday she wants to win a free ticket to the VEX Robotics World Championship held in May in Dallas.
Robotics competitors can either win an award at the state championship or complete an online challenge to win a free ticket.
Online challenges include activities such as building an instruction guide, a community challenge, a drone career readiness challenge, a game design challenge, marketing, STEM research and more. Students are graded on a rubric system, and if they become a finalist, they have an interview with VEX robotics program coordinators.
Laxton chose the STEM advocacy challenge, and has spoken twice at an SPS Board of Education meeting to bring awareness of the program to the district.
Along with two teammates, Hunter Scott and Addy Welch-Britton, Laxton advocated again for space for the Stillwater High School robotics program at the March 11 board meeting.
'(In the challenge), we talked about how we have a ton of kids and no space,' Laxton said. 'And that our room does not really fit the amount of people we have.'
The program is housed at Stillwater Junior High, with both SJHS and SHS teams meeting after school in SPS STEM and Computer Science Educator Rebecca Palmatary's classroom.
Although Laxton and her fellow students didn't place as finalists in the challenge, she's not ready to give up advocating.
Getting her team in the door at Worlds costs $1,800.
'And that's not any of the other fees like hotels,' Laxton said.
Her team qualified for Worlds at the state championship, and now her goal is to raise $4,000 so the five-member team can travel all-expenses paid.
A growing need
There were 11 robotics teams from Stillwater High, Stillwater Junior High and Stillwater Middle School that traveled to the Oklahoma 2024-25 VEX Robotics-High Stakes MS State Championship in Muskogee on March 13-14.
Stillwater students racked up multiple awards, with 8 out of 11 teams qualifying for Worlds.
At SHS, every team won an award, and 4 out of 5 teams qualified for Worlds. At SJHS, 4 out of 6 teams qualified for Worlds.
The competition is sponsored by the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation, a global nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging students to get involved in science, technology, engineering, math and computer science through 'hands-on, curriculum-based robotics programs,' according to the VEX Robotics website.
The competition sees more than 14,000 teams from 53 countries that play in more than 1,300 tournaments.
Palmatary previously told the News Press that last year the Stillwater district had two high school teams, and this year, there are five. The SJHS team grew from five to six.
As students began moving up to junior high and high school, there was no program in which they could compete.
Palmatary took on the challenge.
SMS has had a solid robotics program for years, but for the upper-level classes, the program is in its infancy. The junior high school program started in the 2022-23 academic year and the high school program started in the 2023-24 academic year.
Space for the robotics program has become a major issue for the teams, Palmatary said.
Two robotic fields stay set up all day, but with only one room to practice in – which is also her classroom space – students have to get creative by practicing in garages or living rooms.
'We have parents who have opened their homes to lots of teams so that we can get in those extra hours,' Palmatary said.
Although not a perfect scenario, it's worked, for now.
'In the ideal world, we would have a robotic center, and we would host all of our middle school, our junior high and our high school together,' she said. 'That way, they could collaborate, use that vertical alignment.'
Palmatary said she would love it if space could be made available at the new high school where students could program their robots or practice with adult supervision.
'Hopefully, whenever the new (high school opens), maybe there's going to end up being an open space somewhere that we can repurpose,' Palmatary said. 'But those are kind of my hopes and dreams.'
Repurposed spaces has been a topic at previous school board meetings. 505 Architects Coordinator Brian Thomas, whose team is building the new high school, said some larger rooms might work for robotics spaces.
It's a topic that's concerned Barbara's mother, Stacy Laxton, who has spoken multiple times at school board meetings, urging board members to consider room for robotics in the new high school.
Laxton said her engineering degree has helped her in her current job as part of a supply chain.
'I still use all of my engineering skills in supply chain – it's still STEM skills,' Laxton said. 'So, whether you get an engineering degree and become an engineer or you get a skill set – I still consider myself a lot more successful than somebody who doesn't have this skill set.
'We're not asking for (attention) to be taken away from athletics or arts or any other thing, we're asking just to give robotics a fair chance. Because I'm sure we'll find some company to help us donate stuff. Give us an open space, we'll figure out how to get it done.'
Palmatary said there will always be a need for engineers.
'There's always going to be a need for those problem-solving skills,' Palmatary said. 'That is a growing industry, and the more we can support that, the better off we are.'
Palmatary teaches at Oklahoma State University summer STEM camps, offering classes in coding and advanced coding. Last summer, she taught a basic directional coding camp for first- and second-graders.
The explosion of SPS robotics programs mirrors what's happening in the 21st century, she said.
'Think about it – when (I was) a kid, there wasn't a computer in my back pocket, but we're carrying one around today,' she said. ' … Technology is growing, so AI is growing, the robotics, the problem-solving – it's all just exploding and we can't keep up.'
Stillwater High School awards
– Excellence Award, 74074R Revenant
– Tournament champs, 74074Y Bamboozled
– Tournament Finalist, 74074X Nexus
– Design Award, 74074Z Zenith
– Build Award, 75075D Oasis
Stillwater Junior High School awards
– Tournament finalist, 74074V Oblivion
– Tournament finalist, 74074A Paradox
– Design Award, 74074A Paradox
– Amaze Award, 74074 B Brainstorm
– Inspire Award, 74074S Seismic
– 'Wildcarded' for Worlds, 74074E Eclipse
