Moffat County HS Robotics Team prepares for season with two grants

November 30, 2023 Shannon Lukens

By Shannon Lukens.

The Moffat County High School Robotics team has received two grants for new equipment, from Yampa Valley Electric Association ($5,000) and the Nathan Yip Foundation ($1,500). Operation Round Up from YVEA means you can round up your electric bill and they can receive more support.

MoCo Robo competes in FIRST Robotics Competitions. The season starts Jan. 6 when FIRST has its live, worldwide broadcast, releasing the 2024 game. Teams then have six weeks to design, code, and build a 125-pound competition robot. They’ll compete with that robot to earn one of limited spots at the World Championships every year in Houston, Texas. MCHS Robotics Head Coach Kristen Nichols says the MoCo Robo competed there last year and they hope to go back again.

The picture is of the team at the Kendrick Castillo Memorial Tournament at Regis University in October.

FIRST Game and Season Information

Press release from Moffat County School District; Nov. 29, 2023

Moffat County High School Robotics team awarded Yampa Valley Electric Association, Nathan Yip Foundation grants for new equipment

The Moffat County High School Robotics team is the grateful recipient of two generous grants to help the team resupply its new space entering the upcoming robotics season.

The team, which has co-occupied the agriculture classroom for several years, needed to move to its own space this season as the ag program grew. That meant the tools they shared with the ag program would not be available to them, and several other important pieces of equipment would need to be purchased for the team to operate at full capacity this season.

That problem is largely solved thanks to two wonderful granting organizations. The Yampa Valley Electric Association’s Operation Round Up program generously awarded $5,000 to MoCo Robo for the purchase of new tools and equipment, and the Nathan Yip Foundation also awarded a $1,500 Rural Teacher Grant to robotics head coach Kristen Nichols for the same purpose. This funding will make it possible for the team to be well-supplied going into its upcoming season of competition.

Operation Round Up is a program operated by YVEA that allows YVEA members to donate to (typically by “rounding up” their monthly bill to the nearest dollar) causes like MoCo Robo and many others. From the ORU website:

“The Operation Round Up goals will align with Yampa Valley Electric Association’s goals and reflect our focus to:

Support positive environmental impact;
Educate and grow civic minded, safety conscious, and engaged members of all ages;
Positively impact the communities we serve, recognizing the unique needs of each.”

This means that, functionally speaking, the money granted to MoCo Robo comes directly from the generosity of our neighbors in the Yampa Valley.

YVEA can do more and more good in this way as more members choose to donate. Information on the program and methods to sign up for it can be found at www.yvea.com/operation-roundup. YVEA’s SmartHub app can also be used for this purpose, via www.yvea.com/download-smarthub-app.

The Nathan Yip Foundation is a unique Colorado organization that grants funding to rural Colorado schools in the name of Nathan Yip, a Coloradan who died in a tragic car accident in 2001 at the age of 19. As well as a larger programmatic grant, the foundation also provides many smaller grants like this one directly to teachers at rural schools in the state.

Moffat County School District is so grateful to these and other partners who make it possible for schools, staff, teachers and students to do more than they could otherwise do to further the district’s mission to educate and inspire students to thrive in an environment of change.