2012 - 2016:  Beginnings

 

The roots of the Plainwell Robotics Club go back to 2012 when the Plainwell Middle School fielded a FIRST Lego League team.  PMS also fielded FLL teams in 2013 and 2014.  In 2015, FIRST in Michigan required all middle school teams to compete in the FIRST FTC program.  The PMS team also competed in the FTC program in 2016, including the FIRST State Tournament in Battle Creek.

 

Funding for these early programs came from grants, corporate donations, and individual contributions.

 

 

2017 - 2019:  VEX Robotics

 

Late in 2016, the College of Engineering at Michigan State University offered to support the PMS Robotics Program for three years if we agreed to participate in the VEX Robotics program with at least two teams. Consequently, in January 2017, PMS registered two VEX teams, each consisting of seven students.  They participated in their first VEX tournament in October 2017.

 

The 2019-20 competition season was particularly notable.  The PMS Robotics Program added a third team, and all three qualified for the 2020 State Championship Tournament.  One team qualified for the U.S. National Tournament in Council Bluffs, Iowa and another team qualified for the VEX World Championships in Dallas, Texas. Unfortunately, both the National and World Championships were cancelled because of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

​

​

2020 - present:  Plainwell Robotics Club

​

By 2020, VEX robotics teams had become eligible to apply for funding from the Michigan Robotics Grant Program.  These funds were used in 2020 to create two new high school VEX teams, a fourth middle school VEX team, and two REC Foundation Aerial Drone teams each in the middle and high schools.

 

Concurrent with this growth, what had begun as the Plainwell Middle School Robotics Program was restructured and renamed the Plainwell Robotics Club.  An Executive Committee was formed and an Operating Guidelines document was developed with members of the Plainwell Community Schools administration.  As required by the Operating Guidelines, the Executive Committee prepared an Annual Work Plan in the first quarter of each calendar year.

 

In 2021, the newly-formed PRC created four VEX IQ teams at Gilkey Elementary School, and the Middle and High School Programs were expanded to seven and four teams, respectively.

​

In June 2022, the PRC introduced VEX IQ Robotics to Starr and Cooper Elementary School students; and announced its new eleven-member management team, which replaced the old three-person Executive Committee.  The 2022-23 Work Plan was published in February and then revised in July and September.  Appropriate revisions were made to the Club's previous Operating Guidelines to reflect the New Management Team and were then reissued as the Plainwell Robotics Club Bylaws.

​