Nike Donates $3,000 to Wentzville Robotics Team

The Wentzville Robotics Team, the "Ratchet Rockers," has been awarded $3,000 from Nike for use in its program.

The robotics team comprises 30 high school students from both and that work with advisor Vince Redman, a Project Lead the Way instructor at Holt, as well as professionals in the community who volunteer their time to mentor the team.

In 2010, those mentors formed a non-profit group named Ratchet Rockers, Inc., aimed at fostering corporate partnerships to benefit the Wentzville Robotics Team.

Darrell Wodrich, IT Manager for Enterprise Holdings, serves as President of Ratchet Rockers, Inc. and said they are thrilled to have the support of Nike. "Nike has been a strong sponsor of this Ratchet Rocker Robotics team for many years," said Wodrich. "This donation will go directly to helping the team build a competitive robot for the St. Louis Regional Competition to be held March 23-24 at the Chaifetz Arena at Saint Louis University." 

Jeff Turner, a Nike representative, presented the check and spoke with mentors and students about how the skills students learn as part of this team will prepare them for an engineering career. The students then demonstrated last year's robot and talked about the design process the team follows from developing CAD drawings to validating designs, to manufacturing parts in the wood and metal shops.

Last year, the Ratchet Rockers took second place in the FIRST Robotics Regional Competition held in March and earned an opportunity to compete in the International Competition, which was also held in St. Louis in late April.