Salt Lake City high school robotics team shines on global stage

West High School's Red Rock robotics team qualified for the FIRST Championship, a season-ending competition with 600 U.S. and international teams, and led an alliance to a fifth-place finish in the playoffs.

Key Points

• Students from the Salt Lake City School District are distinguishing themselves nationally and internationally in robotics competitions.
• A high school team from the district recently qualified to compete in a championship event that involved 600 teams from around the world.
• Marathon Petroleum's Salt Lake City refinery helped fund the team's season with a grant that also provided other aid to the district, including supplying the Rose Park Community Learning Center's food pantry.

One of the only urban high schools in Utah taking part in robotics competitions has distinguished itself among the world's best. A team from West High School in Salt Lake City recently qualified for an international championship event after a season made possible with help from Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC).

"Since participation in events can exceed $80,000 per year per school, it is very cost- prohibitive for most schools," said James Yapias, Director of the Salt Lake Education Foundation (SLEF), a nonprofit associated with the Salt Lake City School District that uses private financial contributions to enhance educational experiences in the district.

Inside West High School's fabrication lab where students build robots as large as four cubic feet in size that weigh as much as 120 pounds.

A $133,000 grant to SLEF this school year from MPC's Salt Lake City refinery, which is located within the school district's footprint, primarily benefited West High School's Red Rock robotics team. The funds helped cover event-related expenses and supplies for the school's fabrication lab where students build robots that weigh as much as 120 pounds.

Top-tier finishes at the Utah and Idaho regional FIRST^® robotics competitions earned the Red Rock team an invitation to the FIRST Championship, which involved 600 teams from around the world. The team finished qualification matches ranked sixth in its 75-team division. In the playoffs where teams form alliances with other teams to compete, Red Rock led an alliance that earned fifth place overall.

Support from our strong partnership with Marathon Petroleum has a lasting and life-altering impact on our students.

"Marathon's generous support creates opportunities for students in technology that they might not get any other way, building their confidence and expanding their horizons," Yapias said.

The remainder of MPC's grant to SLEF delivered other types of aid in the district. Across four middle schools, funds provided equipment, supplies and mentoring services as well as STEM-related (science, technology, engineering, math) field trips. The grant also helped stock the food pantry at the Rose Park Community Learning Center, a resource for families and students in one of the district's neighborhoods. From November through January, the pantry served almost 400 people.

Members of the Red Rock robotics team perform a pre-match check of mechanisms during the FIRST Championship, a season-ending international competition that the team reached after top-tier finishes in regional competitions.

This year's examples of assistance are just the latest from a multi-year collaboration between MPC and SLEF that has been powered by annual grant funding from the refinery.

"Our close relationship has benefitted thousands of students over the years," said Yapias. "West High School continues to graduate senior students into top-ranked universities and post-secondary programs. Support from our strong partnership with Marathon Petroleum has a lasting and life-altering impact on our students."

Members of West High School's Red Rock robotics team at one of this season's competitions, which require teams to use a kit of parts to design, program and build industrial-sized robots to compete on a themed court.