Poway High's Robotics Team Ranks 10th in National Competition

Six students from Poway High School's Robotics Club made a name for Poway High at the CyberPatriot Open Division Finals in Washington, D.C.

The team, which participated in the competition for the first time, ranked 10th in the nation, and the students are already gearing up for next year.

"We were surprised," said club adviser Rodger Dohm. "We plan to use the knowledge gained to focus our preparation for next season's game."

The CyberPatriots—a high school cyber security competition sponsored by Northrop Grumman and created by the Air Force Association—allows students to develop in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The six Poway students—Kyle Brennan, Blaine Shelton, Adam Johnson, Kyle Reed, Luke Witte, and Will Box—were mentored by Fred Burke, an employee at the Northrop Grumman Rancho Bernardo facility.

Though the students are preparing for competitions as club members, the ultimate goal of the club is to provide awareness of the "many jobs in programming and in the field of technology," said Dohm.

"The students that would normally gravitate to this field are those interested in programming," he said. "For many students it was their first time learning about the field, and a surprise about how much they actually know."

The Poway High students were praised at Monday's school board meeting alongside Westview High students, who ranked second in the competition.

"Having two teams in the competition is very, very special," said Superintendent John Collins. "This is the type of engaging work we want our students involved in."

Dohm said it's likely that next year's team will comprise the same students with the exception of Shelton, who is graduating this year.