High school robotics class to meet at Sunset Recreation Center
Published 12:00 pm Friday, September 2, 2022
- Members of the 2021-22 Seaside High School’s robotics team, the CYBORG Seagulls. Back row, from left, Toni Vandershule, assistant coach Jack Walker, Jonathan Krizo, Lea Stich, Elliot Ousley and assistant coach Tracy Flaigg-Fairless. Front row, Zach Fukuda, Jonathan Granillo and Oswaldo Acuna.
Seaside High School’s robotics team, the CYBORG Seagulls, have found a home of their own.
The Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District board of directors voted at their August meeting to lease a 1,000-square-foot classroom in the Sunset Recreation Center for the team at the former Broadway Middle School.
The robotics club will likely use the room and either the cafeteria or gym as part of their rental, but that will be occasional or infrequent use, Skyler Archibald, the executive director of the park district, said.
Archibald met with the school district in early May to identify recreation center classrooms that could meet the needs of the program. The large classrooms with storage cabinets, access to the cafeteria as a practice area and the central location of the center make the building attractive, Jeff Roberts, the Seaside High School principal, said after the August school board meeting.
The classroom will be used exclusively for robotics, an extracurricular activity that takes place outside of school hours, Roberts added.
The park district purchased the building from the Seaside School District for $2.15 million in early 2021.
“We settled on an agreement for the space and feel like it’s fair,” Archibald said.
The annual rental amount is $6,300, payable in monthly installments of not less than $525 per month. The lease expires Aug. 22, 2023.
The Northwest Regional Education Service District also rents space in the recreation center.
The robotics team is an extracurricular activity for students that takes place after school hours, housed in a makerspace room at the middle school, Roberts said.
The robotics team, known as the “CYBORG Seagulls,” is led by one head coach and two assistant coaches. The team typically has 12 to 15 students and competes on a regional and statewide level.
The park district, school district and city also have an intergovernmental agreement that outlines the use of neighboring Broadway Field.
The school district does not anticipate moving any other programs to the recreation center, Roberts said.
