‘Zooming In’ on the Marquez Robotics Team

With Distance Learning in Place, Three Teams Continue to Create and Compete

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Three is the magic number in the ever-evolving world of robotics at Marquez Charter Elementary School.

It was but three years ago that the local charter school started a competitive robotics program. Three teachers oversee three teams of three students each—and last year, all three qualified for Nationals.

The program is doing the school and the neighborhood proud.

“During this winter of the 2020-21 school year, one of our teams came in the top nine out of 90 teams,” Marquez Principal Lauren Park Mulder happily reported. “This is a highly coveted win. It’s something the Palisades community should hold very proud.”

At some competitions, children drive the robot. Others are research-based online challenges, but in order to have a team, you have to have a coach or mentor, and also the support of the school itself.

Founded in the 2018-19 school year, the after-school program offers Marquez students a chance to learn how to build and modify robots from a Lego-like kit of parts. Marquez competes in the LAUSD Local District West competitions.

“We’re extremely fortunate to have three volunteer coaches—me and two others,” said Akiko Arevalo of science enrichment, who runs the Marquez program with second-grade teachers Julie Yoshida and Clare Gardner. “It’s very rare and I couldn’t do it by myself. Many schools only have parent coaches.”

Arevalo shared how special it was to have the two fellow teachers come on board.

“The reason we have three teams is because there are three of us,” she continued. “We give our time after school and on weekends, but the kids love it and they learn so much.”

Marquez received a grant for one VEX robotics kit the first year to form a competitive team, and with the aid of the Booster Club and a two-year Pacific Palisades Optimist Club grant, the school has since purchased two more kits in order to include more children.

Its three teams are comprised of fourth- and fifth-graders, and due to COVID-19, this year’s teams have been reduced from four students to three.

“In our first year, two of our teams qualified at our regional events to go on to the state tournament,” Arevalo said proudly. “Those same two teams traveled to Nationals in Iowa and competed against teams from around the world. It was an amazing experience.”

In the program’s second year, Arevalo explained, all three teams qualified for states, but due to the pandemic, only one of the three was able to compete before all group events were canceled.

“That team qualified for the VEX Worlds, which would’ve taken place in Kentucky,” Arevalo added. “Last year, all three teams also qualified to go to Nationals, but again, the event was canceled.”

Marquez has three co-ed teams, each representing one of the primary colors—Red, Blue and Yellow. The Red Team, Lilou Hashemi, Samara Gottlieb and Jonathan Gomperts, was one of nine finalists (out of 90 entries) at the VEX IQ Stem Career Readiness Online Challenge this winter, where teams were required to submit research papers on various STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) careers.

The Blue Team consists of students Amelia Halpin, Hiyab Dunham and Logan Bird. On Saturday, January 16, the Yellow Team, made up of Dylan Trauben, Maria Afzal and Laleh Pashmforoush, took third at the Harvard-Westlake Robotics Virtual Competition.

“All three of our teams worked together remotely during summer through online platforms like Google Classroom and Zoom to complete amazing projects,” added Yoshida, who has taught at Marquez since 1993. “At this last competition, teams scored points in two ways—through driving their robots using a controller and through autonomous programs (coding).

“The kids are amazing. Before COVID-19, each team had about four members but because we’re in quarantine and meeting remotely, we’re limiting it to three per team right now.”

“It’s fun to watch the kids,” added Gardner, a teacher at Marquez since 1998. “We meet together on Zoom after school twice a week. We advise them. We’re there as facilitators, but we show the kids where the resources are.

“They do a lot of it on their own. We just try to inspire and motivate them because they have to persist. We ask a lot of questions. It’s less teaching and more about getting them to come up with things on their own.”