(January 27, 2003) — It’s a Wednesday after school and while most Clark students are at home doing homework, catching up on the latest TV show, or eating, 17 members of the Robotics team, led by advisor Charles De Vore, meet in multimedia teacher Russ Nichols’ room to work on their robot model for the regional competitions in March and April. The competition allows six weeks for each team to build a robot that will knock down and stack boxes with efficiency. Junior Lusine Abramyan said strategy and design are key elements. During the six weeks of preparation, the team meets up to five times a week after school and on weekends for more than three hours at a time. Since the beginning of January, this has totaled up to more than 90 hours. “It’s a sacrifice that I’m willing to take,” said sophomore Andrew Abraham. The general building of the robot is costly, an estimated $3,000. But the registration fees for the competitions add $9,000. One competition is to be held in Phoenix, Arizona and transportation costs will also add on to the budget. Last year, the Robotics team attended only one competition with sponsorship from NASA and a budget of $8,000. But this year, they plan to compete in two without NASA’s help, as the NASA sponsorship has a two-year limit. The two competitions will cost nearly $18,000, according to team members. To be able to build and compete in their competitions, Robotics has been fundraising since the beginning of the year. Senior Narbeh Dereghishian said he has probably done more than a hundred hours of fundraising first semester. Fundraisers held by the Robotics team included a car wash, a plaque sale and a pizza coupon sale, which alone have totaled up to more than $2,500. Robotics also received a $2,000 offer to appear in the Baisakhi Parade in April. In addition to their own fundraising, the Clark ASB has been sponsoring the Robotics team with $2,500 a year. “We are really grateful for that,” said junior Punardeep Sikka. In their first year of competition, the Robotics team made it to the semifinals at regional. Last year, Robotics lost in the quarterfinals at regional and won second place at the Summer Classic Competition.