Robotics

Omecha Wolfpack, Team #6561

Since 2016, our students have participated in FIRST®, a national series of robotics competitions. FIRST stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.” G2S has one high school team, the Omecha Wolfpack #6561. Our team was the second high school team in Mason County to compete in the FIRST® Robotics Challenge. Within an intense six-week time limit, teams of students (grades 9-12) are challenged to raise funds, design a team "brand," and build/program robots to play a field game against competitors.

2018-2019 school year’s theme was “Destination: Deep Space” in recognition of the U.S. mission to Mars. The Omecha Wolfpack participated in two regional competitions this year; the District Muskegon Event on March 14-16, at Orchard View High School and the District Traverse City Event on April 4 - 6, at Traverse City Central High School.

Middle School Robotics

G2S Middle Schoolers participate in the FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics Competitions in the first and second terms of the 2019-2020 school year! This year we had competitions in Marshall, Michigan, and in Allendale Michigan. We are anticipating one more off-season event in May. 

We had a very successful year at competition! At the Marshall Event, we won the Compass Award, which is given to an outstanding mentor who is nominated by their students via a 60 second video, and we were second runner up for the Control Award, which awards excellence in programming skills. 

At the Allendale Event, we won the Promote Award, which is given to a team who displays the principles of FIRST Robotics via a 60 second video, and we were second runner up for the Innovate Award, which is given to a team who shows excellence in the design and engineering process.

During the 2018-2019 school year, both Middle School Robotics teams, the Alpha Wolfpack and the Beta Wolfpack, participated in the FIRST Tech Challenge: Rover Ruckus! They were successful, winning awards for both their robot programming and design as well as an award for a video project connected to robotics.

Baxter the Robot Brings Lessons to G2S

December 11, 2017
Ludington Daily News

Gateway to Success Academy welcomed a new addition to its staff Tuesday, as Baxter — a 6-foot-tall, red-and-black robot with flexible arms and a computer screen face — was delivered to the school by Metalworks.

Tom Paine, president of Metalworks, was pleased to be able to contribute Baxter to the school’s robotics program.

“(Robots like Baxter), they can work without a fence. You can work with him right out in the workplace or in your office, and he’s safe. We found that interesting, because he can be easily trainable to do different things simply by moving his arms,” Paine said. “He is designed to help people more than work on his own. We bought one and tried him on a couple jobs and it didn’t work out. He wasn’t accurate enough. So we thought, ‘What a great idea to have him at a school.’