The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder
The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder
The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder
After being qualified for the VEX robotics world championship, members of the 5430 robotics team remain humble because of their drive to collaborate and express their ideas with each other. For sophomore and Blue Brains member Esther Young (center), being the newest addition of her team has allowed her to meet people that she shares interests with. It has also allowed her to meet some of the nicest people she has ever met. “Being on the team is very energizing. I know for a fact my team definitely wants to take home trophies, but we also wanted to be qualified for world. That basically just means performing super well — maybe an award, but the experience is good too,” Young said.

Beyond the bots

Esta Kamau, Features/Humans of West Editor • April 17, 2023

Gearing up all four robots in preparation for the big day, members of the robotics program boarded a 5 a.m. bus March 5 and set off for Jefferson City, Mo. Each team — the Blue Brains (5430A), END GAM3...

The Blue Brains team members juniors Katherine Hanses, Joseph Britt, Isaac Porter and Anushka Dharmasanam and seniors David Meisinger and Rick Biswas pose in front of their robot and awards at the Speedway signature event in Indianapolis. The awards include their trophies from smaller competitions and World 2021, as well as a small trophy gifted to the team for their performance by robotics sponsor Chris Donaldson. “The trophy was for just being a good team, because this was our first big signature event outside of the virtual ones we did last year,” Hanses said. “[At this competition], we had six matches on the first day, and we won five. We got knocked out in the quarterfinals.”

Blue Brain breakthrough: robotics team prepares to compete internationally

Tanvi Kulkarni, Features Editor • December 16, 2021

Tucked away in the school’s most remote classroom, students spend hours after hours tinkering with mechanical parts, writing sophisticated codes and reworking robots to execute extremely precise...

As senior Rick Biswas reads a packet, junior and Scholar Bowl Executive Captain Owen Arneson keeps track of senior Kevin Zheng's and the rest of his teammates' points. Doing this at each of the Scholar Bowl team's practices three times a week allowed Arneson to figure out categories he and his teammates have improved in. Senior and Strategic Captain Anna Csiki-Fejer (not pictured) then helps players find resources to improve in categories the team doesn't cover as well. "I'm excited to go to tournaments, see some new people and competition," Arneson said. ​"We were at a really good spot dedication-wise at the end of last season, but how much more dedication I'm already seeing this year looks like a really good sign to me. I love seeing my teammates play well, show good teamwork and have a good time; it makes me really excited to see just how well we can do this year.​"

Photo of the Week – Sept. 17

Brinda Ambal, Conceptual Editor-in-Chief • September 17, 2021

During Robotics Club, sophomores David Meisinger and Rick Biswas build a robot that they competed with in local competitions. Freshman Joseph Britt notes that cooperation was an important factor in the team qualifying for worlds. “Our team is mostly new people, so it is pretty exciting that we were able to work together,” Britt said. “I really like the environment there, and we have been spending a lot of our weekends working on the bot. We aren’t fighting over jobs or fighting over who gets to do what or [over] what the bot should do. We are all able to work together and execute it as a team.”

Robotics team qualifies for their first VRC World Championship

Zoe DeYoung, Staff Writer • April 23, 2020

At the beginning of the school year, Blue Brains, one of the schools four robotics teams, set various goals, including making it to state. After not only qualifying for state but winning the competition,...