Inanimate Reason Robotic Education Programs for Inquisitive Kids!

South Tampa Community Club
Robotics Enrichment Program

Enrollment is limited to 16 students
The club is open to 3rd grade^* and up.

Activity and Description

The South Tampa Community Robotics Club meets on Wednesdays (excluding school holidays) for 90 minutes from 5:45 to 7:15 at Bayshore Baptist Church. Membership in the club is maintained on a month-to-month basis.

Under the direction of Coach Shaw, members of the Robotics Club have an opportunity to learn teamwork, engineering, programming, problem solving, and critical thinking skills all while having fun! Students learn important STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) concepts that can help them throughout their academic and professional careers. Club members will use LEGO® MINDSTORMS® and other robotics tools to build robots and machines, program them to perform specific tasks, troubleshoot problems, and refine their strategies to address practical challenges. The cost is $80 per student per month.

Beginners start with the basics using tutorials and our special curriculum. They learn sound construction methods, programming and become familiar with the various components of the MINDSTORMS system. Once they have mastered the essential concepts, they'll discover increasingly sophisticated designs by building robots to complete a number of project-oriented tasks, each designed to improve their programming and engineering skills. Sometimes each group will work on particular projects such as animal themed robots or our ever popular battlebots challenge while at other times the entire club will be engaged in a higher level challenge. Some of the activities encourage participation by parents.

We organize the kids into small groups based on age and experience. Each group chooses the challenges they wish to pursue. They will engage in other related activities to build teamwork and allow them to interact outside of their immediate groups. Parents are welcome to stay to help out during meetings. Periodically, we will engage in group projects that everyone participates in.

Junior FIRST LEGO League (for students ages 6-9)
If there is sufficient interest, we will be conducting a special Jr. FIRST LEGO League program for students ages 6-9. Right now, we have two interested students. We need at least two more. You can learn all about it here. The program will culminate in an expo in which the teams will display their projects. Based on the latest information I have, the expo will be in February at LEGOLand. There is an additional activity fee to participate in Jr. FLL that covers team registration, the expo and materials. Jr. FLL is an eight week commitment.

About the Coach

Coach Shaw has led FIRST® LEGO League Robotics teams in Florida since 2006. In 2010, he was recognized as the Florida Mentor of the Year for his work with FLL®. Mr. Shaw founded the robotics after school program (now in its fifth year) at MacFarlane IB Elementary School. He firmly believes that winning is fun but is secondary to ensuring that kids have a positive learning experience. He places as much emphasis on team and character building as he does on fostering technology skills.

How to enroll

Complete the enrollment form below. If enrollment exceeds the maximum of twenty students, students will be placed on a waiting list until spots become available. Once we have exhausted the waiting list, we will reopen enrollment for future sessions. Dues for the club are $80 per month. We prorate months with fewer than four meetings at $20 per meeting.

Introductory Special
Pay for three months and receive one month free! Dues for the three month period are $240. You'll receive the fourth month at no charge (minimum $60 value) just for being one of our inaugural team members! This offer expires once the club has reached capacity and may be withdrawn at any time.

Thank you for enrolling your child in our community robotics enrichment program! Once you complete the basic information below, we will update our roster. You will still need to complete the registration packet and bring it with your student on your first day.

After completing this page, your child will be pre-registered for our program (unless you are RSVPing for our open house). If you are registering for our open house, please let me know in the message field below and don't pay anything - the open house is free! Club registration is complete once payment has been received. On the next page, if there is space in the club, you'll have the opportunity to pay online. Otherwise, you'll automatically be placed on the waiting list.