St. Charles Community College will host the 18th Annual GM Robotics Challenge Friday, March 4 in the College Center Gym and Daniel J. Conoyer Social Science Building (various locations) at St. Charles Community College, 4601 Mid Rivers Mall Drive in Cottleville. 

Doors open at 8:05 a.m., the competition and breakout sessions will start at 8:35 a.m., and the awards ceremony will start at 1:30 p.m. Breakout sessions include: General Motors Predicative Technology, Rockwell Automation, Inventor Fusion - Amazon Echo, Autrotroph - 3D Printing, SCC Angry Bird Engineering, Edufactor - Careers in Manufacturing and FIRST TECH Team - Assumption School. 

(Left to right) Connor Williams, freshman; Robert Strubinger, junior; Steven Lewis, freshman; Leanne Ketchum, senior; and Sarah Ketchum, sophomore; of Winfield High School make final adjustments at the 17th annual Robotics Challenge at St. Charles Community College.

This is the event's biggest year yet; 48 teams from 32 middle schools and 16 high schools will be participating. Schools include: Fort Zumwalt South High School, St. Charles High School, St. Charles West High School, Winfield High School, Francis Howell Middle School, Bryan Middle School, Barnwell Middle School, Saegar Middle School, Fort Zumwalt West Middle School, Hardin Middle School, Jefferson Intermediate School, Orchard Farm Middle School and Assumption.    

Winfield High School teacher Diana Lehmkuhl said she continues to bring her students to the Robotics Challenge because they love it. “It's fun and challenging for them,” Lehmkuhl said. “I let the students take the lead on the challenge because it's really all about them and what they come up with.”

The challenge, once again, has been written by Brian Steber, who is a senior engineer at General Motors. There will be 32 professionals representing a variety of industries judging the competition.

“What's so cool about the event is that I might have what I think is a great solution for something, yet the students come up with something entirely unique,” Steber said. “They are judged on teamwork and presentation, as well as the design and engineering.”

Sponsors of the event include: General Motors - Wentzville, Leoni Engineering Products & Services Inc. (a manufacturing company) and SCC Workforce Development. 

For more information about this event, contact Tammie De Los Santos at tdelossantos@stchas.edu or 636-922-8342.

St. Charles Community College is a public, comprehensive two-year community college with associate degrees and certificate programs in the arts, business, sciences and career-technical fields. SCC provides workforce training and community-based personal and professional development as well as cultural, recreational and entertainment opportunities. For more information, visit www.stchas.edu.