The wonderful world of science, technology, engineering and math - it continues to become a driving force in our schools in and out of the classroom. A unique squad is using what they've learned to prepare for careers next year, and robotics championships in the meantime.
It's certainly fitting that the Academy of Science would be the Buffalo Public School that excels in STEM education and reps a robotics team. The Buff Sci-Borgs have a fun name, but these 11 seniors mean business.
"It was one day, like we were doing something with Legos, said team captain Rhafiqul Alam, "that's when I actually decided to join. And ever since then, it's just stuck with me and I've been in the team."
This year's First Tech competition includes getting rigid disks onto a backdrop ledge. You could also score points by hanging and also launching a plane. More important than the robot they use or the points they score is the team, themselves.
"We would build, we would practice, we would code, we would talk, we would think," said teammate Derrick Veal. "We would just brainstorm our ideas, what we could do for the competition."
Utilizing every bit of free time, available space and resource they have, they rebuilt the team and started turning heads at competitions across the state.
"That's really what solidified most of us still coming to robotics, like, 'Hey, we can do this'," he said.
And to do so, they recruited from the full student body.
"So coming into robotics last year was my first ever experience with it," said teammate Eden Englert.
It's been a wild ride of growth and networking for the Borgs, who had to get some help with funding to get them to Utica this weekend for a second state championship in a row. Some of that help came from teams they have competed against.
"I mean, not only can you learn different ideas technologically, but you can also just reach out with more communities," Englert added. "Without that, we wouldn't have raised as much money as we did for our team. So I feel like a lot of that makes me more grateful for the things I have around me."
High school robotics tends to operate less like your traditional football, basketball or other sports.
"Unlike Battlebots, where you're in, out and destroy, this is cooperative," said team coach and the district's STEM coordinator Douglas Borzynski. "You work with different teams to progress the whole team, the whole division up."
So for all the adults in the room, it's been watching these teammates develop and plan their futures with a little help from what lead them to these teams, STEM.
"Some of us are going into computer science, some of us are going into biomedical engineering, mechanical engineering. So robotics has truly inspired us," said Alam. "Especially with all the different components and all the different things you can do with engineering and building things."
Whether it's where the Borgs have come from or where they'll end up years down the road.
"We come together, we're downtown, we're east side to west side," said Borzynski. "We're Buffalo, but when it comes down to it, we're just part of the community; and without the community, we wouldn't be here."
"I know I'm going to come back and mentor the kids from next year," added Alam.
"Doesn't have to be robotics necessarily, but like anything in the STEM field, it makes, it makes a lot of sense. But like, you just have to get started really," Veal said. "And then it's really amazing."