Amid the whirl of the 3D printers and clatter of various power tools, members of the Upper School Robotics team prepare for their Washington state competition debut. 

One of the members who will compete is junior and club co-leader Niam Patel. 

“I’m very excited,” Patel said. “I’m also very excited to see how we do, and hopefully, we can get even further.”

His partner for State is junior Mohamed Farah. The duo has received support from the entire team, including co-leader and fellow junior Ben Frischer, who advises them on building their robot. 

While the club meets four times a week for an hour and a half each session, Frischer continues to work at home long after the meetings end. 

“It’s hard to find anything else quite like this. It’s complicated, which makes it more interesting,” Frischer said. “Sometimes, you’ll do small projects in classes, but it’s just not at the same level because this is far more intricate.”

The club currently has 21 people participating. However, only two years ago, it looked drastically different.

“I’m glad the UPrep program has actually evolved and improved because in ninth grade, there was kind of nothing,” Frischer said. “It wasn’t that no one was making state in ninth grade, there wasn’t even a program.”

Patel emphasizes the success of the team and looks ahead to the future. 

“Everyone did well, and we went to more competitions which is nice,” Patel said. “The team saw a general improvement over the last few years and we hope to do it again next year.”