On Friday August 19, six students from Shaw Middle School embarked on the trip of a lifetime, thanks to Shawbotics coach, and science and social studies teacher, Janet Hudson, and  MEM's very own Dr. Brad Layton.

The Shawbotics Team left for Aichi, Japan to compete in the First Lego League/FIRST JAPAN No Limits Challenge (a Lego robotics competition) as the US FIRST team from Aug. 21-25. U.S. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science Technology), had emailed all the teams that competed over the last three years about the one open space Japan First had left, with no representation from the United States. Within the 24-hour deadline, Shaw Middle School figured out a plan and applied, in order to give their city students the opportunities that this experience would hold for them.

Once Hudson was able to secure sponsorship funds from both the city and state governments, she called on her summer advisor from the National Science Foundation funded Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program, Dr. Brad Layton of Drexel's Mechanical Engineering & Mechanics Department, to address the issue of facilities.

Dr. Layton happily supplied the team with use of his lab at  Drexel's Hess Building at 34th and Lancaster. With less than three weeks to prepare for the competition, the team gathered in the Hess Lab from 3p.m.-7p.m. everyday and diligently worked up until it was time to leave for the competition. MEM Department Head and Associate Dean of the College of Engineering, Dr. Mun Choi, also assigned graduate student Keith Sevcik to serve as a mentor to the team.

Shaw Middle School is also a NASA Explorer School. Coupled with the Robotics program, Shaw has been able to offer city students a greater amount of opportunities to foster interest and experience in math and science.

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