Cathedral Catholic High School student and robotics team captain Ryan McConville ‘18 goes to bed every night with big ideas and sounds of electronic tools in his head, waking up in the morning motivated to devote another day working on Big Redd, the CCHS robotics team’s competition robot.

“We’ve [been] working since January on building Big Redd,” McConville said. “I had to put in a lot of time after and before school, especially because I’m the captain of the team.”

Thanks to the efforts McConville and his fellow CCHS student engineers, Big Redd made its competitive debut recently when the Advanced STEAM and STEAM classes traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada. After several days of grueling competition comprising many events, the CCHS team placed 22 out of 47 teams.

“Vegas was incredible, and we got to see a lot of cool robots,” CCHS student Martin Surillo ’18 said. “It was also cool to see our robot at work, and although we didn’t get too far in the competition, it was an overall good experience.”

Since August, the Robotics team has devoted countless hours toward building Big Redd for competitive success.

“Most days I can be found in the STEAM classroom during the school day when I’m not in class, especially when we are getting closer to bigger competitions,” McConville said.

And more changes are in store for the CCHS STEAM program.

While in prior years the robotics team was limited to primarily Advanced STEAM students, it will now be open to the entire student body.

“Next year we’re looking to build the Robotics Team to be more inclusive for students who are interested in engineering but may not be able to take a STEAM class,” CCHS STEAM teacher Mr. Andrew Knoll said.

With the expansion of the Robotics Team at CCHS comes the opportunity for more creative minds to join the program and put CCHS on the map in robotics competitions.

“This is an exciting time for the robotics team because I see the potential for the CCHS engineering program to continue to grow and improve in these upcoming years,” Mr. Knoll said.