Twenty-four teams were involved, 11 of which were sponsored by MSU’s College of Engineering through Shell, said Drew Kim, assistant to the dean for recruitment and K-12 outreach in MSU’s College of Engineering.

Garth Motschenbacher, assistant to the dean for employer relations and an emcee at the event, said this year’s competition was centered around food safety.

Different categories of competition — robot competition, research and presentation ­— focused on ideas such as removing pollution from oceans, fishing and planting corn, Motschenbacher said.

“Each year, the mission changes,” he said. “They figure out strategies about how to build a better world for you, for me, for all of us. The missions they do are built around that idea.”

After being judged, the top seven teams advance to the state tournament on Dec. 10 in Flint, Mich., he said.

Harper Creek, Mich., resident Cory William got involved in mentoring robotics teams through a local high school and now is a programming mentor for Elements of Chaos, a rookie team from Harper Creek Middle School that competed in the event.

William said he regrets not having the opportunity to participate in a similar event while he still was in school.

“There’s a lot of kids who are out there trying to get scholarships through sports and athletics, but to me, there’s more opportunities in technology than there would be in athletics,” he said.

Despite not being able to participate himself, William still appreciates being able to assist students such as eighth-grader David Peterson, who plans on being an automotive engineer when he grows up.

“I like (this event) because you can think about different ways to use Legos ,” said Peterson, a member of Elements of Chaos. “You get to build what you want to instead of following a set of directions.”

Mechanical engineering junior Alec Dutch appreciates seeing children embrace the field of engineering at an early age.

“It’s a great thing to get started young because we need more American engineers,” Dutch said.
Motschenbacher said it is important that kids are exposed to the possibilities that lie in the fields of math, science and technology.

“Engineering, science, technology and math are all really important to our nation and world as we move forward,” he said. “It’s not so much to channel people into things they don’t want to do but to make sure they’re aware of the opportunities that are out there.”