MONUMENT — A nonprofit makerspace in Monument is giving high school students hands-on experience in robotics, coding, and business — and a chance to compete with teams across the state and beyond.
Monumental Impact aims to provide a space for its community to not just create but also to grow; it is open to high schoolers, college students, adults, and seniors, each coming with a different purpose.
Some members join to advance careers or learn new skills. For a group of high school students, the goal is competitive robotics.
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Their team, the Bionic Sharks, competes in a program called First Tech Challenge. Each September, teams across the globe receive a brief: build a robot that can complete a specific challenge (with that challenge changing each year).
"We translate them into a robot, like this one from last year," one student said.
From there, the Bionic Sharks design, code, and construct their robot under the guidance of mentors. The process is intensive.
"Last year, our robot took more than 100 hours of 3D printing it alone, and if you combine that with putting it all together and then programming it, it's well beyond," a student commented.
The program, which has its roots in a former collaboration with Lewis-Palmer School District 38, also asks students to pursue real-world business practices, including seeking sponsorships to fund their season.
Jeanette Breton, executive director of Monumental Impact, said the goal is for students to discover what drives them.
"When a student joins Bionic Sharks, or is in the makerspace here, we hope that they are exploring their interest so that they can understand what they have a passion for — maybe even get some practical skills so they can confirm what they want to do," Breton said.
For at least one student, the experience is already shaping the future.
"I'm definitely going to study computer science in school, so this is setting me up," the student said.
The team's competition schedule is broken into six-week intervals where the team collaborates, learns, and redesigns their strategies and robotics; the season runs through February with the potential for the team to travel throughout the state and further on how competitions go.
"For us, success is that they've had some hands-on experience in a field of interest," Breton said.
Anyone interested in seeing the work of Monumental Impact and the Bionic Sharks can attend the Gobble Squabble on Nov. 21 at Bear Creek Elementary in Monument, where combat and competitive robotics will be on display alongside work from local makers.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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