By Ria Nair '21 and Nancy Liu '22

The Janksters competed at CalGames, their first off-season competition of 2019, at Woodside High School last weekend. In their first match, unfortunately the hatch mechanism fell off the robot, but the Janksters quickly bounced back. Collaboration was key in quickly making repairs and later moving to win a few matches. Working with new teams was a great opportunity to collaborate and improve Team 1967’s strategy.

This was a great learning experience for rookies and veterans alike. Rookies participated in a variety of activities, including robot research, networking and scouting robots from the stands. Wudi Yousef ‘23 said “CalGames is a fun and engaging competition. It is a great way for rookies to be prepared for other competitions and to socialize and meet with other teams. You meet so many nice people and get to become closer as a team.” Because CalGames was the first robotics competition many of these students attended, they had unforgettable memories and countless new experiences.

Veterans used newly acquired skills to mentor other students and explore new leadership roles. Vicki Martelli ‘21 said “Calgames is incredibly fun, you get to bond with your teammates and engage in friendly competition with other teams.  I love learning about how all the other teams’ robots were made. They’re always so flashy and interesting!”

As a highlight, one of the team’s mentors, Dean Mulla, won the Mentor of the Year Award. This marks the second mentor to receive recognition this year. As a team, we are thankful for the time all of our volunteers spend making the robotics program at Notre Dame a success.