Spring Valley Academy Educators Use Robotics to Teach STEM

Story by Angela Peach

In 2014, teacher Sam Joseph started a LEGO® Robotics Club for middle school students at Spring Valley Academy (SVA). The STEM club, now co-sponsored by teacher Allyssa Sharpe, continues to encourage middle school students to practice the fundamental skills of engineering through the design, programming and testing of a fully functioning robot.

Freshman David Constantine joined LEGO robotics in 2021 when he was in the sixth grade. “What I liked most about being in the LEGO Robotics Club was that I was surrounded by ‘my people,’” he says.

“We all shared a common goal, and each contributed our part to achieve it. We were a team!”

For Constantine, this included attending regional competitions and a national championship. He moved into a mentor role in his later middle school years, and it was students like Constantine who got high school teacher Dillon Zimmerman to brainstorm how to reach high schoolers. “There’s such a strong [middle school] LEGO robotics program at SVA,” says Zimmerman, “but up until this school year, there was nowhere for them to go to after they graduated from eighth grade.”

Hence, Zimmerman started the High School Robotics Club in September 2024, and the team joined the FIRST Robotics League.

“Instead of building robots out of LEGO and its ecosystem, we utilize metal components, servos, motors and other types of components used in conventional robotics,” explains Constantine, who one day hopes to become an engineer. “What we do in robotics is more than just building robots and programming them,” Constantine explains. “We act like our own engineering startup.” The students strategize, research components, fundraise to find sponsors and advertise. He estimates that only half of the members of their club actually work on the robot itself, because the club needs so many different types of thinkers to operate successfully.

“There’s a place for every kid to be a part of what  we’re doing,” says Zimmerman. “Not just the students focused on engineering. Everyone has a role and is valued.”

Ultimately, that’s what clubs like LEGO robotics and FIRST Robotics League are about: cultivating student talent and developing their gifts in service of something bigger. It’s what keeps teachers like Zimmerman, Joseph and Sharpe excited about introducing these engineering concepts to their students through these clubs.

But even beyond that, Zimmerman shares an even bigger goal: “My ultimate goal is to help students to understand that by becoming empathetic problem-solvers, they can implement Christ’s method of meeting the needs of the people around them before bidding them to ‘come follow Him.’

There are opportunities for ministry, even in engineering. I want students to connect their passion for STEM with their hearts for His service.”