By Elizabeth Rueda Gynn
A big congrats to the WHS Robotics Club for receiving a $3,000 grant from the Winthrop Foundation and participating in the New England Botball Tournament!
Robotics Club students Colin McCarthy, Daniel Ramos, and middle-schooler Zachary Rudi, with their advisor Senerath Palamakumbura (a WHS Science & STEM teacher), participated in The New England Botball Tournament with dozens of other local schools on Saturday May 3, 2025 at Malden Catholic. The WHS team made it through the seeding round and beat Winchester in the first round. A great start! The tournament brought together bright young minds in Massachusetts for a full day of robotics, problem-solving, and teamwork. More than just a competition, Botball fosters social learning, teaching students how to collaborate, adapt, and lead in real time.
Before the competition, the WHS team spent weeks building their robot on wheels, learning to code, and creating an obstacle course simulating a food-serving area. The robot moves exactly where it’s supposed to around the course, lifts up and sets down food, drinks and serving trays along the way, and can make it to the finish line fast and in once piece. The $3,000 grant from the Winthrop Foundation covered the materials, equipment and entry fee for the competition. A portion of the funds will support STEM programs (science, technology, engineering and math) at WHS, and get the word out about the Robotics Club to increase student participation and build awareness about the positive power of STEM and robotics.
Back in 2016, Ms. Rosemary McCarthy and former WHS students Elizabeth Collins and Trinity Rist envisioned new engineering, coding and innovation opportunities for WMS/WHS students. They started the very first Robotics Club and had a great rookie year. Nearly every year since, the Robotics Club has been an exciting and challenging extracurricular for Winthrop students.
WMS and WHS students are invited to join the Robotics Club — whether they know coding or robotics skills, or not. Beginners are welcome! Students learn from each other and the advisor, and focus on the areas they like: programming, mechanical or electrical engineering, coding in C, C+ and Python. They also collaborate on problem-solving, fundraising, and outreach. To join, to mentor, or for more information contact Senerath Palamakumbura at [email protected].
Since its founding in 2019, the Winthrop Foundation has been honored to provide over $625,000 in grants to local nonprofits and other public-serving entities in our town with support from Massport. Foundation Board Chairman Russ Sanford and the Trustees look forward to many more years of serving the Winthrop community. Find the grant application and contact information at www.winthropfoundation.us.