Led by Andrew Jesus, Genius Robotics Team Ranked Fourth in the World
It may be bold to call one of the Gross Catholic teams a “Genius Robotics Team,” but it is rather accurate. It takes genius engineering, knowhow, and skill to rank number four in the entire world. Hence, “genius” is a moniker that fits.
Andrew Jesus’ mom knew that he enjoyed taking things apart and putting them back together. So she signed up Andrew for a robotics camp at Gross Catholic when he was in 7th grade. Remarkably, on the first day of camp, Andrew called his mom and asked for money to attend the next camp. Six years later, his team, “Lochnut Monster” made it to the top five in the world.
World Rankings
Team Lochnut Monster consists of Andrew Jesus, Jeff Treu, Chris True, JP Jansen, and Keegan Shanahan. Andrew currently leads the group in designing, building, programming, and driving the robot. The team ranked as high as number four in January. The system that ranks robotics is also used in chess and other zero sum games to predict a player’s skill. The rankings constantly change because of the highly competitive nature of robotics. However, as of February 24th, Gross Catholic still has two teams in the top twenty. Additionally, Gross Catholic has five other rated teams.
Growth and Friendship
According to Mr. and Mrs. Jesus, “We have seen Andrew grow so much with robotics. Each year the game or challenge changes. The team has to build a new robot and document the journey in their engineering notebook. This has led to friendships across the country.”
When game rules are published each summer, Andrew immediately texts friends he made through robotics to brainstorm ideas. It’s important to realize that tournaments are designed to promote collaboration. Teams are randomly paired with another group and are required to compete together. Through teams’ communication, strategizing, and scouting each other, friendships naturally bloom.
Friendships Lead to Genius Robotics Alliance
While one might think Andrew enjoys most about robotics is the designing, building, or driving of the bot, it is quite the contrary. What Andrew enjoys most about robotics is meeting people around the world.
His experience making robotics friends globally began when Andrew was a freshman. At that time, the Gross Catholic team traveled to China and placed second at the world championships.
Relying on his robotics friends network, Andrew helped start, “Vortex Alliance,” a coalition is built from teams from around the world. Current members are from Texas, Canada, Montana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Massachusetts, South Dakota, Wisconsin, China, Indiana, Missouri, Virginia, Maryland, and California.
Hard Work Leads to Success
In order for Andrew and his team to be successful, they all have committed themselves to excellence. Team Locknut Monster spends countless hours in the robotics lab building, refining and scrimmaging against each other. This persistent practice takes place almost every day after school and on weekends, not unlike a sports team practice schedule. The time and effort is evident when Gross Catholic competes in tournaments. This year, it isn’t uncommon that Gross has four teams in the semifinals. Also, quite often, teams from Gross compete against each other in the finals. “It is the strength of all of them that push them to be as good as they are today.” stated Mrs. Jesus.
The Future
Andrew will continue his education at Iowa State. His interest in robotics led him to decide to major in engineering at the university. His love of robotics will not be put on hold while Andrew is studying in college. He and his friends will compete in BattleBots. You may have seen the competition on TV. Teams build robots and compete head to head against each other in an exciting arena.
Robotics engineering in general is one of the fastest growing careers in the world. Robotics engineers such as Andrew and his team have a great opportunity to forge their path in that new world. The future looks bright. And Gross Catholic genius robotics team members definitely have a say in that future.
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About Gross Catholic
Gross Catholic, a co-educational, college preparatory high school, began its proud heritage of academic excellence rooted in the Marianist tradition in 1968. We consider ourselves one of the best Catholic schools in Omaha, Bellevue, and Papillion. The school motto Dux Esto (“Be a Leader”) is at the core of its extraordinary mission, innovative spirit, and fundamental values. The school offers a challenging environment and outstanding quality of life, both in academics and co-curricular activities, with a strong focus on STREAM (Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics) education. The spirit of Christian service and giving back is part of everything the school does. Gross Catholic’s top-tier status is reflected in its talented faculty, staff, and coaches who take great pride in seeing virtually every graduate head to college, often to the most prestigious domestic and international universities and service academies. Together with families and alumni, Gross Catholic forges relationships for a lifetime, helping to ready the next generation to be exemplary, principled leaders of the world.
To discover the Gross Catholic difference, contact us at 402.734.2000 or visit our Admissions page.