It was April 1 and the East Ridge High School robotics team was told that they had qualified to compete against some of the top robotics teams in the world.

But it was also April Fools Day and they thought there was no way that could be true.

“We joke with each other a lot, so we were wondering if that was an April Fool’s prank because it would not have been odd for it to have been,” East Ridge junior Audrey Bakst said.

The team was in shock once they realized it was true, Bakst said — and then the excitement began.

East Ridge High School’s robotics team, called ERRORs 3130, was invited to compete in FIRST Championship, what participants often refer to as the world competition in FIRST, which stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.

The four-day youth robotics competition will be held April 16-19 in Houston. Students will compete against teams from around the world, including about two dozen from Minnesota, showing off the robots they’ve created as they complete action-packed challenges. Other east metro teams invited include NoMythic from St. Paul, Rogue Robotics from Farmington, Lightning Turtles from Mendota Heights, and KnightKrawler from New Brighton.

Creating a competition-worthy robot

ERRORs 3130 consists of 34 students in ninth through 12th grades. While the team is advised by adult mentors, often alumni and parents of current or former students, the team is primarily student-led.

“I think what’s so cool about our mentors is that they are there to help us when we need it, but they’re not going to tell us what to do,” Bakst said. “They teach us to fail in a safe environment and show us how to improve.”

At the start of each year, the team is given a build challenge by FIRST that explains the skills and characteristics their robot will need to compete. The team takes part in at least one preseason competition per year and at least two regular season competitions, with the goal of making it to the state tournament and FIRST Championship.

In January, ERRORs 3130 created an industrial-sized robot with the objective of being semi-autonomous, placing large PVC pipes onto multiple posts up to six feet tall, moving large playground balls into designated areas as quickly as possible and finally attaching itself to a cage. The team competed in a regional competition April 3-5, placed third at the event and set a high score during one match.

Outreach and impact

Aside from building robots, a large focus of ERRORs 3130 is community outreach, which they call ‘impact.’ The team partners with elementary and middle school youth, teaching them the mechanics of building robots and inspiring them to become interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) through FIRST Lego League.

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The students also attend community events like Woodbury Days and Movies with Mo with other robotics teams, including Woodbury High School, Math and Science Academy and Park High School, to promote robotics. ERRORs 3130 also hosts a week-long summer camp for youth.

“We want to make sure that kids know what their options are for high school and beyond,” Bakst said.

Teams recognized for their community outreach efforts are also eligible for the FIRST Impact Award, which honors a team ‘that will inspire greater levels of respect and honor for science and technology, as well as encouraging more of today’s youth to become science and technology leaders,’ according to FIRST. ERRORs 3130 won the award in 2023.

“FIRST values the community outreach aspect of it just as much as they value the robot,” Bakst said. “If you win the impact award, that’s like the most prestigious award at each regional, and that also qualifies you for worlds.”

Preparing them for the future

Robotics has taught the students technical skills related to engineering, as well as social and communication skills, teamwork, business and entrepreneurship, the team said.

Senior Emily Fox said that through competitions, she’s had the opportunity to network with companies like Disney, NASA, Boeing and John Deere. Once she graduates high school, Fox will attend Purdue University and major in mechanical engineering. Her dream is to work for Disney as an imagineer, she said.

“Robotics has really set me on what I want to do,” Fox said.

Team mentor Brian Howard’s daughter joined the East Ridge robotics program in 2018 and he has been a mentor for the team ever since. What he loves about the team is that it’s run like a student-led small business, he said. As a mentor, Howard said he’s there to oversee the students’ work, encourage them to learn through failure and celebrate success.

“The program itself is incredible,” Howard said. “I’ve not seen anything quite like it, and it actually changed the course of my daughter’s career. She’s currently a junior at Cal Poly, a mechanical engineering program in California, because of what she experienced here.”

Howard, who’s retiring from his role as a mentor this year, said he’s seen the students grow, adapting to new challenges and problem-solving faster than in the years prior. He said he enjoys seeing the growth in some students who come in not knowing how to use a screwdriver and leave with the skills to build a fully functioning robot.

Raising money for worlds

The cost to attend the world competition is $1,200 per student and 26 students are planning to attend, according to team mentor Melissa Cole. The students were asked to provide a $700 deposit to cover bus and registration costs.

“Ideally, we earn enough money that we do not have to ask for any more money from the families,” Cole said.

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The team is fundraising to help cover the cost of the trip. Those interested in donating can use Venmo @frcERRORs3130 or mail a check to East Ridge Robotics Foundation, Box 25641, Woodbury, MN 55125. Find more information about the team at frcerror3130.org.

For information on supporting other east metro teams, visit 2491NoMythic.com (NoMythic), team2987.com (Rogue Robots), team3100.com (Lightning Turtles) or team2052.com (KnightKrawler).

ERRORs senior Albert Wright said he wants all of the robotics teams in the state to be able to attend the competition but knows how challenging covering the cost of attendance is.

“Going to worlds is more than just a fun experience; it’s a transformative one,” Wright said. “Going to worlds my second year on the team opened my eyes to the true limitless nature of robotics and helped solidify what I feel my purpose in life is.”

By MICHELLE L. PRICE

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday urged Congress to “push hard for more Daylight at the end of a day” in his latest dig at the semiannual changing of clocks.

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Trump, in a post on his Truth Social media network, said it would be “Very popular and, most importantly, no more changing of the clocks, a big inconvenience and, for our government, A VERY COSTLY EVENT!!!”

The Republican president’s position calling for more daylight would push the schedule forward, keeping the country on daylight saving time. His post came a day after a Senate panel heard testimony examining whether to set one time all year instead of shifting.

There has been growing interest in states to standardize daylight saving time in recent years.

But daylight saving time, when clocks are set from spring to fall one hour ahead of standard time, is still recognized in most parts of the country. It was first adopted as a wartime measure in 1942.

Trump last year called for the Republican Party to eliminate daylight saving time, saying it was “inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”

But he backed off that call last month, with another post on social media calling it a “50-50 issue.”

The president said some people would like more light later in the day but some want more light early so they don’t have to take their kids to school in the dark.

“When something’s a 50-50 issue, it’s hard to get excited about it,” he said.

The Senate in 2022 unanimously approved a measure that would make daylight saving time permanent across the United States, but it did not advance.

By 2028, Woodbury will have a long-term solution to removing PFAS from its drinking water as construction of a new treatment plant is in the works.

“It is the largest capital improvement project in the history of the city of Woodbury,” assistant public works director Jim Westerman said.

The $330 million plant will connect all 20 of Woodbury’s groundwater wells through 17 miles of pipe to a central location for treatment. The plant will treat for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances using granular activated carbon, which can remove PFAS chemicals to ensure safe drinking water, according to Westerman.

The scope of the project means there will be some challenges for residents and visitors during construction.

“This effort is going to have significant disruption to the city of Woodbury and the community at large because of those pipeline projects and the traffic impacts,” Westerman said.

Roads closures from April through June include Dale Road, Interlachen Parkway, Pioneer Drive, Bailey Road and Arbor Drive, according to the city of Woodbury.

PFAS in the wells

Other communities like St. Paul and Minneapolis rely on surface water or a combination of surface water and groundwater, while Woodbury’s municipal water system comes from a 100% groundwater-based system, Westerman said.

Nine of the city’s wells, which have had health advisories placed on them by the Minnesota Department of Public Health, are being treated for PFAS by four temporary plants, the first of which was constructed in 2020 and has since expanded.

The new, 32 million gallon per day treatment plant will add two new wells to the system and is being built on 22 acres of land south of Hargis Parkway and east of Radio Drive. The new system will replace the temporary plants as a long-term solution for addressing water contamination.

More than 90% of funding for the permanent plant and pipelines will come from a 2018 PFAS settlement reached between 3M and the state of Minnesota. Additional funding for the project will come from federal sources and the city’s water utility fees.

New standards

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A number of other cities in the east metro are stepping up efforts to handle the “forever chemicals” after the EPA finalized new standards last year for PFAS in drinking water. While some communities are able to comply by shutting off certain wells or blending water with cleaner wells, others including Hastings, South St. Paul and Stillwater will have to install costly new filtration systems to remove the chemicals.

Westerman said he asks community members to have patience during Woodbury’s construction and understand that the ultimate goal is to provide everyone with high-quality drinking water.

For more information on PFAS and Woodbury’s water treatment program, go to woodburymn.gov and click on “Water Treatment.”

JONESBORO, Ga. (AP) — Police in Georgia and Florida and searching for a convicted killer who was mistakenly released from a county jail south of Atlanta, authorities said.

Kathan Guzman, who is in his early 20s, admitted strangling his girlfriend, 19-year-old Delila Grayson, who was found dead in a bathtub in August 2022, according to police in Clayton County, Georgia.

Guzman was freed about two weeks ago, when jail workers mistakenly released him after not reading paperwork carefully, Clayton County Sheriff Levon Allen told WSB-TV. The employees failed to see that Guzman had been convicted of murder and assault by strangulation and had been sentenced to life in prison, the sheriff said.

Allen said authorities believe he may have gone back to Osceola County, Florida, south of Orlando.

That’s where the victim’s mother, Christina Grayson, lives. She’s terrified that Guzman will come after the family for their role in the trial, WFTV-TV reports. Her family is sleeping in shifts so that someone is awake at all times, she told the Orlando station.

“I feel like I’m a sitting duck,” she said.

Osceola County deputies are patrolling her neighborhood as the search continues, she said.

“Our deputies are aware of the situation and are in contact with Georgia authorities,” the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “Our primary goal remains the safety of our community.”

Guzman told someone after his mistaken release that “God is good” and that he believes it was the result of a higher power, the Clayton County sheriff told WSB.