Newark High School Students Learn About Robotics and Life From NJIT Peers

Robotics club students at New Jersey Institute of Technology are mentoring their peers in robotics clubs at local high schools, striving to teach younger minds that hands-on experimentation and teamwork can take you anywhere.

Umair Khan, president of the NJIT group, said his team members are working with students in Newark's Barringer High School, Malcolm X Shabazz High School, Science Park High School, School of Global Studies and Tech High School, along with Paterson's International High School.

The mentorship program started a couple of years ago with Science Park which is around the corner from NJIT's campus, expanding to other schools virtually during COVID. The club picked up funding from NJIT's Newark College of Engineering and from Albert Dorman Honors College, of which Khan is a member, studying mechanical engineering. He said his group decided to accelerate the in-person program as the pandemic wound down.

"They really like it when we come over," Khan said. Along with NJIT students Oluwaseyi Ikujuni and Francisco Vazquez, "I personally work with Malcolm X Shabazz High School. They treat us like big brothers. They really depend on us. We hope to make it so that they don't depend on us, so they can do things on their own."

Mustakeem Obayomi, a sophomore and co-captain on the Shabazz team, said assistance from NJIT students has been invaluable. Obayomi grew up in Nigeria and enjoyed a childhood hobby of building toy cars, but robots are another level of technical complexity. "My job is to deal with the parts and electronics that make the robot move," he said. "It was very helpful because they were here to direct us, what we need to do, and what we need to build the robot. They gave us websites and tools," he said.

Obayomi said he valued the online educational and technical resources developed by Khan's group and that he would like to follow in Khan's footsteps by studying mechanical engineering here at NJIT after high school.

The Shabazz club has a dozen members, eight boys and four girls, who touched success by winning a perseverance award at a robotics competition this year, just their second year in existence. "Having them was a big asset," school teacher Jason Hernould said of the NJIT mentors.

With several of the schools, "We're really just helping them with how to basically build their robotics. They're starting from pretty much scratch. … You get a good idea of how it is to get started from the bottom-up," Khan added. "They were really in a hole, essentially. It was hard for them, working with us virtually from the beginning, but then once we got in person we got to see how a team can really raise itself up."

"It goes to show the potential that this club has at NJIT and beyond. I'm really excited to see where we go with this."