After an afternoon spent helping steer Betsy DeVos, the U.S. secretary of education, around the world robotics competition Friday, high school senior Gloria Campos is hoping the west Michigan native is now hooked on robotics.
"That would do a lot for robotics. I want it to grow," said Gloria, 18, of Dayton, Ohio, who was one of the student ambassadors who took DeVos on a tour of the 2018 FIRST Robotics World Championship in Detroit, where it's being held for the first time.
DeVos met with a number of teams and sat next to Gov. Rick Snyder, a robotics enthusiast, to view one of the matches. She asked a ton of questions of the students she met. She took pictures with one of the two phones she was carrying. And she told reporters she thought robotics was a great opportunity for the students who are involved.
Gloria and Allan Ngumo, a junior at Brother Rice High School, were chosen to take DeVos on the tour, which lasted several hours. Both are heavily involved in robotics. Ngumo said DeVos seemed particularly engaged with the youngest kids who compete in the FIRST LEGO Leagues Jr., part of the competition. She spent a lot of time in particular with Michigan teams from Detroit and Ann Arbor.
Anne Pankonin, a fifth-grader from Louisville, Neb., and several members of her team of homeschooled students, gave DeVos a rundown of their robot and their project. Their team competes in the FIRST LEGO League division.
Asked whether she knew who DeVos was, Anne said she wasn't 100% sure.
"I recognized her from somewhere," she said.
The two agreed that if someone on DeVos' level could be a strong proponent of robotics, the goal of FIRST — to expand and attract more students to science and technology — could be realized. She pointed to the popularity in Michigan — which has more robotics teams than any other state — and pictured what could be nationwide.
"Every state could be like Michigan," she said, adding that DeVos told her she wants to come back and see the competition again. That's going to be important.
"That's what's going to get you hooked."
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