WHS Robotics

WHS Robotics is a club Gretchen Whitney High School in Cerritos, California. Our school serves grades 7th to 12th in the ABC Unified School District. Whitney High School is an academically driven school, earning the Blue Ribbon and California Distinguished School awards multiple times. For numerous years, our school has been named #1 in California, deemed #5 for best STEM High School in the US, and ranked in the Top 10 in the nation. Our club is student-run and has had teams competing in FIRST Robotics Challenge, FIRST Lego League, FIRST Tech Challenge, VEX IQ, and VEX Robotics Competition. Our club now consists of only FLL and FTC teams. Many of our teams have competed and placed in international competitions. Our club originated in 2002 with the help of our lovely, retired club advisors, Ms. Sandra Bruesch and Ms. Marilou McSherry. Two of WHS Robotics' teams participate in FIRST's FLL (FIRST LEGO League) competitions. In FLL, students ranging from 7th grade to 9th grade can experience building a robot with Lego parts and programming using LEGO EV3s aiming to complete different missions based on a certain theme for the season. FLL also puts an emphasis on both innovating things for real-life problems and learning to work as a team. One other team participates in FIRST's FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) competitions. FTC is a more advanced division of FIRST. Due to sharp and heavy parts, FTC is reserved for high school grades. Members of both building and programming must cooperate in order to create a functional robot and complete objectives. Along with the creation of a robot, FTC has an emphasis on reaching out to the community through demonstrations, social media, and other outlets. Members talented in writing, designing, or networking can apply their talents in community outreach.