Mission & Program Impact

Our Mission

WMS Robotics gives middle school students the opportunity to take on authentic engineering challenges in a team environment where learning, persistence, responsibility, collaboration, and growth matter as much as competition results.

Through FIRST Tech Challenge and related robotics experiences, students learn to design, build, program, test, troubleshoot, communicate, and improve. They are expected to think carefully, contribute meaningfully, learn from others, and take increasing ownership of their work.

Robotics is particularly powerful because the problems are real. A mechanism may not work as expected. A program may need to be rewritten. A design may succeed during testing and fail during competition. Students must investigate, adapt, and try again.

Our goal is not simply to build successful robots.

It is to help students become increasingly capable, confident, independent problem-solvers

A Pathway from Middle School to High School

WMS Robotics is an important part of Wilmington's larger robotics pathway.

Students participating in Apollo, FTC Team #16921, and Artemis, FTC Team #22618, gain experience that can prepare them to continue into Wilmington High School Robotics.

By the time many of our students reach high school, they have already worked with competition robots, mechanical systems, programming, electronics, CAD, 3D printing, engineering design, troubleshooting, strategy, teamwork, outreach, and the expectations of a FIRST competition environment.

But the pathway is about much more than arriving at high school already knowing how to build or program a robot.

Students learn how to work through uncertainty, ask better questions, explain their ideas, accept feedback, support teammates, recover from mistakes, and continue working when a solution is not obvious.

WMS Robotics has become a strong feeder program for Wilmington High School Robotics. Many former WMS students continue into the high school program, bringing with them technical experience, confidence, an understanding of teamwork, and the values of FIRST.

Our goal, however, is larger than preparing students for another robotics team.

We want students to become capable engineers, programmers, designers, problem-solvers, teammates, and leaders.

Technical Growth

Students enter WMS Robotics with very different levels of experience.

Some may already be comfortable building or programming. Others may be encountering robotics tools and systems for the first time.

We challenge and support students across that range.

Students may develop skills and experience in:

Mechanical design and construction
Robot wiring and electronics
CAD and digital design
3D printing and manufacturing
Programming
Motors, servos, sensors, and control systems
Autonomous and driver-controlled operation
Testing and troubleshooting
Game analysis and strategy
Engineering documentation
Communication and presentation
Engineering design and iteration

The objective is not simply to teach students how to build one robot or solve one season's game.

A student who learns how to diagnose why a mechanism failed has gained something more valuable than that mechanism.

A student who learns how to divide a programming problem into manageable parts has developed a skill that can transfer to future challenges.

A student who learns to support a design decision with evidence is beginning to think like an engineer.

One Team, Many Roles

Successful robotics teams require much more than people who physically build robots.

Students contribute through several areas of responsibility:

Marketing and Fundraising
Promoting WMS Robotics, communicating with supporters, organizing fundraising efforts, and helping obtain the resources necessary to operate the program.

Team Leadership
Helping organize work, coordinate students, support teammates, communicate across specialties, and keep the team moving toward shared goals.

Mechanical
Building, wiring, testing, troubleshooting, repairing, and improving the physical systems of the robot.

Programming
Developing and testing the software responsible for autonomous and driver-controlled robot operation.

Strategy
Analyzing the FTC game, identifying scoring priorities, scouting other teams, developing match strategies, and helping determine what capabilities the robot needs.

CAD and 3D Printing
Designing components digitally, creating custom parts, prototyping ideas, and using additive manufacturing as part of the engineering design process.

Engineering Notebook
Observing, photographing, documenting, and chronicling the team's engineering work and progress throughout the season.

These specialties are different, but they are not independent.

Strategy influences robot design. Mechanical students need to communicate with programmers. CAD designers need feedback from builders. Programming decisions depend upon the capabilities of the mechanisms. Marketing and fundraising provide resources that make technical work possible.

Students learn that successful engineering is collaborative.

The Engineering Notebook

Apollo and Artemis each maintain their own engineering notebook.

The student responsible for the notebook may also hold another role on the team or may concentrate primarily on engineering documentation.

At each meeting, the notebook lead observes the team's work, photographs important developments, records decisions, and chronicles progress.

The notebook may document:

Design concepts
New mechanisms
CAD models and 3D-printed components
Programming progress
Testing results
Mechanical or electrical problems
Failures and redesigns
Strategy discussions
Competition preparation
Major decisions
Lessons learned

Over time, the notebook becomes the story of the team's season.

It records not simply what students built, but how they thought, tested, failed, changed direction, solved problems, and improved.

Earning a Place on the A Team

WMS Robotics is fortunate to attract a large number of interested students.

Because not every student can immediately become part of the core teams, students first demonstrate their commitment by completing a required amount of work supporting the robotics program.

Students who meet that expectation and begin working directly on some aspect of Apollo or Artemis earn a place on what we call the A Team.

A Team students may contribute through mechanical work, programming, CAD and 3D printing, strategy, fundraising and marketing, leadership, engineering documentation, competition support, or other responsibilities.

The designation is not earned simply through age, previous experience, or technical ability.

It is earned through participation, effort, reliability, and contribution.

Joining the A Team marks an important transition: from being interested in robotics to accepting responsibility as an active member of a team.

Growing Into Leadership

Leadership develops over time.

Students gain knowledge, technical skills, confidence, and experience with each year they spend in WMS Robotics. Some students are ready to take on leadership responsibilities in seventh grade. Others grow into those roles during eighth grade.

There is no single path.

Our mentors teach, demonstrate, question, guide, and support students as much as they need.

As students become more capable, we deliberately begin to step back.

Students make more decisions. They take greater responsibility for their specialty. They begin solving problems before asking an adult for the answer. They coordinate with teammates, explain their reasoning, and increasingly take ownership of their work.

The progression often moves from:

“Show me how to do this.”

“Help me think through this.”

and eventually:

“Here is what we decided to do, and here is why.”

The goal is not to remove adult support. It is to adjust that support as students grow.

Safety, Responsibility, and Trust

Greater independence must be built upon safety and responsibility.

Safety instruction begins when students join WMS Robotics.

Students learn appropriate procedures for everything from using a screwdriver correctly to operating more advanced equipment such as 3D printers, heat guns, and our laser cutter.

At first, mentors may provide direct instruction, demonstration, and close supervision.

As students demonstrate competence and responsible behavior, they are gradually given greater independence.

But independence never means the absence of supervision.

Mentors continue observing student work and remain ready to intervene whenever necessary.

Our progression is:

Teach → Guide → Practice → Demonstrate Responsibility → Increase Independence

Students learn that being trusted with tools and equipment means accepting responsibility for their own safety, their teammates, the equipment, and the quality of their work.

Learning Through Success — and Failure

Robotics makes failure visible, immediate, and useful.

A mechanism may break. A drivetrain may behave differently than expected. A sensor may return unreliable data. A program may contain an unexpected problem. Something that worked perfectly yesterday may suddenly fail.

We do not treat these moments simply as setbacks.

Students learn to ask:

What happened?

Why did it happen?

What evidence do we have?

What should we change?

How will we know whether the change worked?

Success deserves investigation too. When something works, students should understand why it worked.

Both outcomes are part of engineering.

Improvement rarely comes from getting everything right on the first attempt. It comes from testing ideas, studying results, making informed changes, and trying again.

Students discover that difficult problems do not have to be avoided.

They can be investigated.

They can be understood.

And, eventually, they can often be solved.

Fundraising and Ownership

WMS Robotics is responsible for raising the funds needed to support our program.

Operating FTC teams requires replacement parts, motors, electronics, sensors, tools, construction materials, 3D-printing supplies, manufacturing resources, competition expenses, and other equipment throughout the season.

Fundraising therefore becomes another authentic team responsibility.

Students help promote the program, sell items produced through 3D printing, participate in fundraising events, communicate with supporters, and help generate the resources that allow Apollo and Artemis to continue designing, building, programming, and competing.

Students learn an important lesson:

A successful engineering organization requires more than engineering.

It also requires planning, communication, organization, resource management, and community support.

Outreach and Community Engagement

WMS Robotics is expected to contribute beyond our own teams.

Outreach gives students opportunities to use their engineering and communication skills to benefit their school and community.

Sometimes it begins with a simple question:

Is there something we know how to design, build, program, or manufacture that could help someone else?

Engineering for Others

One memorable example came through a collaboration with the WMS Drama Club.

For Shrek the Musical Jr., WMS Robotics students helped design a working Pinocchio nose, using CAD and 3D printing to create a functional theatrical prop.

Projects like this demonstrate that engineering skills have uses far beyond the competition field.

The STEM Fair

Our annual STEM Fair provides one of our largest community outreach opportunities.

Students demonstrate their robots, explain how they work, and allow younger children to experience robotics firsthand by driving them.

Students also demonstrate 3D printing and sell 3D-printed items to help raise funds for the program.

Our students get to share something they enjoy while younger children discover that robotics and engineering are things they may someday be able to do themselves.

Wilmington Fall Fest

Bringing WMS Robotics Into the Community

On Saturday, October 3, 2026, WMS Robotics participated in the Wilmington Fall Fest for the first time, setting up on the Town Common and Town Hall grounds for a day of robotics, engineering, fundraising, and community outreach.

We could not have asked for a better day for our first Fall Fest. Under bright sunshine and blue skies, WMS Robotics students welcomed families, children, WMS alumni, community supporters, and fellow Fall Fest vendors to learn more about our program and meet the students behind Teams Apollo and Artemis.

Apollo Takes Robotics Beyond WMS

One of the highlights of our booth was Apollo's 2025–2026 competition robot.

Throughout the day, our students demonstrated the robot's shooting mechanism for visitors. Younger children were especially fascinated by seeing a real competition robot in action, and many families stopped to learn more about WMS Robotics and how students can become involved when they reach Wilmington Middle School.

For many of our visitors, this was their first introduction to WMS Robotics. Others were longtime supporters, WMS alumni, or members of organizations that have helped support our robotics program and STEM education in Wilmington.

Some of our youngest visitors are only a year or two away from entering sixth grade. Judging by their enthusiasm—and by the number of parents asking their children whether they might someday join WMS Robotics—we may already have some future Apollo and Artemis team members waiting in the wings!

Students Running the Show

14 WMS Robotics students volunteered during the day, giving us enough students to operate the booth while still allowing everyone some time to enjoy Fall Fest.

More importantly, our students did far more than simply stand behind a table.

On the robotics side of the booth, students prepared Apollo for its demonstrations, made last-minute mechanical adjustments, tightened components, and worked through programming changes to the robot's TeleOp program so that its shooting mechanism would operate reliably.

On the fundraising side, students maintained and displayed our inventory, spoke with visitors, handled sales and money, and explained why fundraising matters to our program. Students also ventured out into the Fall Fest crowds to introduce people to WMS Robotics and encourage them to visit our booth.

They represented the very best of WMS Robotics and Wilmington Middle School, demonstrating responsibility, teamwork, communication, technical problem-solving, and the FIRST ideal of Gracious Professionalism.

Engineering You Can Take Home

Our fundraising tables were filled with a wide variety of 3D-printed creations, demonstrating another side of the design and manufacturing work that takes place within our STEM and robotics programs.

Visitors found everything from fidget toys, articulated creations, airplanes with movable wings, sports magnets, and WMS Robotics bag tags to items connected with past WMS theater productions. Some of the biggest attractions were dragons, geckos, gummy bears, and other creations made from special filaments that glow in the dark, react to ultraviolet light, or change color with temperature.

WMS Robotics, Apollo, and Artemis items gave visitors another way to show their support for our teams.

All proceeds from our fundraising efforts go directly back into WMS Robotics, helping support expenses such as robot parts, competition fees, and other team needs.

We are immensely grateful to everyone who stopped by, purchased something, learned about our program, encouraged our students, or supported us in any way.

Because of that support, we are able to do more.

Connecting With Wilmington

Fall Fest gave our students opportunities to speak with people from throughout the Wilmington community: families and children, former WMS students, longtime supporters of our STEM and robotics programs, representatives of community organizations, fellow vendors, and many people who were discovering WMS Robotics for the first time.

Several of our high-school robotics alumni stopped by to reconnect with the program. Other former students who were working at Fall Fest also came to visit.

The day even brought WMS Robotics in front of a new audience when one of our students was interviewed by WCTV Wilmington about the program.

For our students, these conversations are an important part of robotics. Engineering is not only about designing, building, and programming. Engineers must also be able to communicate their ideas, explain their work, work with others, and represent their team and community.

Fall Fest gave our students the opportunity to practice all of those skills in an authentic setting.

Our First Fall Fest — But Not Our Last

WMS Robotics' first appearance at Wilmington Fall Fest had been in the works for nearly a year. After seeing other Wilmington school organizations participating in previous Fall Fests, we believed WMS Robotics should be there too.

The result exceeded our expectations.

We are already looking forward to returning.

For a future Fall Fest, we hope to expand our robotics demonstration by bringing both Apollo and Artemis and setting up a small section of FTC field flooring. That would allow visitors not only to watch our robots in action, but also give younger students an opportunity to try driving a competition robot themselves—just as visitors can during our STEM Fair demonstrations.

Perhaps one of those future drivers will return a few years later wearing an WMS Robotics team shirt.

Thank You, Wilmington

Our first Fall Fest would not have been possible without the people who helped make the day successful.

We are especially grateful to our WMS Robotics student volunteers, who worked hard throughout the day and represented their teams and school with pride and Gracious Professionalism.

Thank you to the Wilmington Fall Fest Committee for the tremendous amount of work required to coordinate an event of this size and bring together so many community organizations, businesses, vendors, and families.

Thank you to the high-school students who helped us transport our canopy, tables, and equipment, including many former students who were happy to lend a hand.

And most of all, thank you to the families, children, alumni, community supporters, fellow vendors, and everyone else who stopped by our booth.

Whether you purchased something, watched Apollo in action, asked our students a question, told someone else about our program, or simply stopped to say hello, you helped make our first Wilmington Fall Fest a memorable one.

We hope to see you again next year.

A Growing Mentorship Cycle

The relationship between WMS Robotics and Wilmington High School Robotics does not end when our students leave middle school.

Over the past several years, that relationship has grown increasingly strong.

High school robotics students return to work directly with Apollo and Artemis.

They have taught advanced software skills, including more sophisticated robot navigation and autonomous programming. They have introduced WMS students to the basics of Onshape for FTC Robotics and helped them think about how game strategy should influence robot design.

Sometimes the mentoring is less formal.

High school students may spend an afternoon with Apollo and Artemis—examining robots, answering questions, troubleshooting problems, sharing ideas, and offering advice.

And sometimes we put the robots on the field.

Friendly competitions between the middle school and high school robots give our students a chance to test themselves against older students who may also have helped teach and mentor them.

Knowledge Comes Back

Students who advance from WMS Robotics to the high school program do not simply take their middle school knowledge with them.

Increasingly, they bring their new knowledge back.

WMS students learn → students advance to high school → their skills grow → high school students return as mentors → younger students become stronger → those students eventually advance to high school.

The cycle strengthens both programs.

The next generation begins from a stronger starting point.

Year-Round Learning and Summer Enrichment

Robotics learning also extends beyond the school year.

Each summer, our STEM Summer Enrichment program includes two robotics-focused camps for students who want to explore FIRST Robotics, learn more about robotics generally, or simply challenge themselves.

Some students arrive with very little experience. Others want to strengthen existing skills.

Students may develop abilities in mechanical systems, programming, planning, strategy, troubleshooting, and teamwork while experimenting, building, programming—and having fun.

High school students regularly volunteer to help.

Former middle school students can return with more advanced knowledge and help younger students solve problems, troubleshoot robots, develop programs, and think strategically.

Teaching strengthens the mentors too. They must communicate clearly, explain their reasoning, exercise patience, and take on leadership responsibilities.

It creates another version of the same cycle:

Students learn → students grow → students return to help others learn.

The Competition Experience

Competition brings together months of designing, building, programming, testing, documenting, fundraising, and strategizing.

It can also be intense.

Robots break. Programs behave unexpectedly. Matches do not go according to plan. Students may have only a short time to diagnose a problem, make a repair, change a program, adjust a strategy, and return to the field.

The Competition Team

Apollo and Artemis each prepare four primary students for competition roles:

Captain
Drive Driver
Mechanism Driver
Human Player

Students serving as Drivers must be at least in seventh grade.

The Drive Driver controls the movement and positioning of the robot.

The Mechanism Driver controls the systems used to acquire and score game elements and the robot's other non-driving mechanisms.

The Human Player performs the responsibilities defined by that season's FTC game, while the Captain helps lead and represent the team.

They must communicate and function as a unit.

The Team Behind the Drivers

The four students directly involved on the field are only part of the competition team.

Other students may maintain and repair mechanical systems, troubleshoot wiring, maintain robot programs, scout matches and teams, gather information for strategy, communicate with other teams, prepare the robot between matches, and handle other responsibilities as needed.

A student does not have to hold a controller to influence what happens in a match.

Everyone has a role in the team's success.

Competing Against Older Students

At many of the FTC competitions we attend, WMS is the only middle school represented.

Apollo and Artemis therefore regularly compete against teams composed primarily of high school students who may have several additional years of engineering and programming experience.

Our students have repeatedly demonstrated that they can compete successfully in that environment.

The significance is larger than simply beating an older team.

A seventh- or eighth-grade student can walk into a competition filled with high school teams, compete under the same rules on the same field, perform successfully, and discover:

“I belong here.”

That can be a powerful source of confidence.

More Than the Matches

Competitions are also some of the most enjoyable days of the season.

Students spend time with Apollo and Artemis teammates, reconnect with Wilmington High School robotics students, meet students from schools across the region, examine other robots, exchange ideas, and experience the larger FIRST community.

When our middle school teams compete against Wilmington's high school team, the result is an especially enjoyable friendly rivalry.

Competitions may be stressful, but they also contain laughter, excitement, encouragement, new friendships, and a tremendous amount of fun.

Gracious Professionalism

Technical ability is only part of becoming a strong robotics team member.

WMS Robotics emphasizes the FIRST principle of Gracious Professionalism.

Students learn that it is possible to compete intensely while respecting other teams.

They learn to share knowledge, offer assistance, appreciate the work of others, listen to different ideas, and represent WMS responsibly.

Within Apollo and Artemis, Gracious Professionalism means treating teammates with respect and recognizing that everyone has something to contribute.

That becomes especially important during the busiest parts of the season.

Commitment, Camaraderie, and Team Culture

As competition approaches, the pace often changes dramatically.

When the robots are not yet working the way they need to—and that happens more often than not—we may meet nearly every day and sometimes for many hours.

That is a substantial commitment for middle school students.

They are balancing robotics with homework, sports, drama, band, other clubs, family responsibilities, and school.

Yet students repeatedly rise to the occasion.

They stay late. They troubleshoot one more problem. They test another version. They repair something that broke. They revise a program. They help a teammate.

They keep working because the team is depending on them.

Working Through Friction

Spending that much time together is not always easy.

People become tired. Ideas conflict. Frustration builds. Students disagree about mechanisms, programs, strategy, or what needs to happen next.

Those moments are part of learning too.

Gracious Professionalism matters just as much inside our own workshop as it does at competition.

Students learn to disagree respectfully, listen to different ideas, recover from frustration, and remember that everyone is working toward the same goal.

The Fun Matters Too

For all the work and pressure, robotics is also a lot of fun.

There are jokes, celebrations, shared frustrations, ridiculous moments, friendly rivalries, competition-day excitement, and the satisfaction of finally getting something to work after hours of effort.

The fun extends into outreach and fundraising.

Students enjoy demonstrating robots at the STEM Fair, letting younger children drive them, showing people how 3D printing works, selling the things they have made, and representing WMS Robotics in the community.

Fall Fest will give them another opportunity to spend time together while sharing Apollo and Artemis with Wilmington.

These experiences create camaraderie.

Students may remember the robots and matches, but they also remember the people they worked with, the community events they attended, the problems they solved together, the mistakes they eventually laughed about, and the feeling of belonging to something that mattered to them.

Preparing Students for What Comes Next

One measure of our success is seeing former WMS Robotics students continue into high school robotics and take on increasingly advanced responsibilities.

But it is not the only measure.

Students leave WMS Robotics having had opportunities to become more confident with technology, more comfortable solving unfamiliar problems, more willing to learn from mistakes, more capable of working with others, and more prepared to accept responsibility.

Some will continue in robotics.

Some may eventually pursue engineering, computer science, manufacturing, science, design, or other technical fields.

Others will follow completely different paths.

The larger goal remains the same:

Help students become people who can approach a difficult challenge, learn what they need to learn, work effectively with others, accept both success and failure as opportunities to grow, and keep improving until they find a better solution.

If they can do that, then what they learned through WMS Robotics will continue to matter long after their final competition.

Building Something That Lasts

Robots change every season.

Students graduate.

Competition games change.

Technology changes.

But knowledge can remain.

A student learns something from a mentor. That student becomes more capable. Eventually that student helps someone else.

A middle school student becomes a high school student. A learner becomes a mentor. A student who once needed someone to explain how something worked becomes the person explaining it to someone younger.

That is the program we want to build.

Not simply successful robots.

Not simply successful teams.

But a sustainable Wilmington robotics community in which students learn from those who came before them, contribute while they are here, and leave something behind for those who come next.

Page updated

Report abuse