The ECHO, May 2023

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Robotics Club’s successful season
By Gabe Deel
Staff Writers
The East Robotics Club
had one of its best seasons
this year. After coming in first
place at both of their regional
competitions, they advanced
to the World Championship for
the third time in school history.
“This year was probably our
most successful season so far,”
said senior Andrea Basuroski,
who was the president of the
club this year.
The Robotics Club is one of
the largest clubs at East, with
around 50 active members. It
appeals to a variety of students
who enjoy engineering, problem
solving and competition.
“It’s a whole bunch of people
working together in various
different areas of expertise to
build one project. That’s really
great,” sophomore Ethan Kirtley
said.
After success in two regional
competitions and the North
Carolina state competition, the
team qualified for the 2023
World Championship hosted in
Houston. Around 45 members
of the club went on the 22-hour
bus ride to compete at Worlds.
The competition was
a massive event, with over
600 teams competing. It was
similar to a sports event, with
fans cheering on the teams
in the finals, livestreams of
the competition, and even
commentary breaking down
the matches. As an international
event, the 2023 World Championship
featured teams from 59
different countries.
“What’s really interesting
is that you go and talk to
people [from other countries]
and they’re really no different
from us. They’re just sort of
nerds wanting to build robots
and having fun with it,” senior
Lucien Genova said.
At the competition, teams
were tasked with using the
robots they designed to move
various objects onto platforms
at different heights. Getting
objects on the higher platforms
gave teams more points than the
lower platforms. The team with
the most points after 2 minutes
and 30 seconds won.
The Robotics Club progressed
farther in the competition this
year than they did in their
previous two trips to Worlds.
The 600 teams were divided
into eight separate divisions,
and East’s team placed 15th
in their division. They then
entered qualification rounds
that enabled them to compete
in the playoff tournament. In
the playoff tournament, they
made it to the semifinal round
where they won their match to
make it to the finals. However,
a technology failure caused the
match to be replayed, where the
team then ended up losing.
The key to the Robotics
Club’s success this year has been
their leadership, teamwork and
calculated strategies, according
to the club’s leaders.
“The strategy that we took
this year was building a simple
robot as quickly as possible, and
then putting a lot of time [into]
driver practice so that we got
very fast and efficient. We didn’t
have as much raw capability
as other teams, but we did
everything faster,” Genova said.
The trip to Houston gave the
Robotics Club the opportunity
to meet various professionals
who have been successful in
the STEM and business fields.
They were also able to witness
some of the best robotics teams
in the world compete against
each other.
“I think the most memorable
part of the trip was watching
the finals [of the tournament].
The robots were just on a whole
different level,” Kirtley said.
However, the Robotics Club
is not only about building robots
and competing in events.
“We do a lot of outreach as
well,” Basuroski said. “We go to
elementary schools, children’s
museums, Girl Scouts etc. and
we let them see the robots and
drive [them].”
FEATURES
East’s TSA goes far in competition
By Andrew Xu
Staff Writer
As soon as they stepped inside
the Sheraton Hotel outside
Greensboro, the handful of East
students were greeted by the
scene of hundreds of teenagers
in suits, running around,
scrambling to print material
and checking into their rooms.
“You just feel a sense of unity,
almost, because everyone is
thinking the same things you’ve
been thinking... and everyone is
ready to compete,” said senior
Jessica Mathew, secretary of
East’s chapter of the Technology
Student Association (TSA).
“[It’s] one of my favorite parts.”
East’s TSA competed in
the state competition March
26-28, in-person for the first
time in three years due to both
cancellations and COVID-19
protocols, after advancing in
regionals. They participated
in various technology and
leadership-related individual
and team events from CAD
Engineering to Promotional
Design. Several students
and groups placed highly,
including earning first place in
Digital Video Production and
Technology Problem Solving.
“[At] the competition,
you’re going to meet lots of
other people and see different
perspectives on how they tackle
the same events [and] their
situation,” said club president,
senior Kabir Grewal. “It’s an
eye-opening experience;you
get to meet lots of people from
different backgrounds doing
different things.”
Prior to the state competition,
competitors must first prepare
and practice arduously and
qualify in regionals, either by
project submissions or real-time
competitions. Qualifications are
event-specific, as top-placing
individuals and teams, not
schools, advance. With the gap
between the two events, students
were able to make drastic
revisions and improvements
based on judge feedback.
“The really great thing
about regionals is [that] it’s
kind of like a practice round,”
Mathew said. “That was kind
of our opportunity to really
mess around, [to] be as creative
as we wanted, to see what
was acceptable... and [use] the
feedback we got from judges
for states... But the time between
regionals and states is so small...
[so] you have to work quicker.
Senior Yahan Yang, whose
team of five placed third statewide
in the Board Game Design
event, recalls their team’s
development following the
regional competition.
“We made the game... the
week of submission... [but] we
7
had experience, so we were
able to do it,” Yang said. “And
for [the state competition], we
started... a lot earlier because
we learned... that if we’re going
to try... to place and if we’re
going to try to make it better,
we can’t start the week of [the
competition] again. So we
definitely made improvements
on that.”
This reflects the larger need
for self-accountability from
students in managing their
progress and projects, due to
TSA’s student-led and nonsystematic
nature.
“It’s just about working hard,
being disciplined, working well
before the competition and
really owning it yourself,”
Grewal said.
While this effort, devotion
and responsibility are necessary
for success, he acknowledges
that, even so, the results are not
always ideal.
“You’re more happy with
yourself, knowing that you
did realistically all you could
in your event,” Grewal said.
“Sometimes you don’t place;
there’s really good competition
in the state [and] there’s going
to be even better competition
in the national competition.
But knowing that you did
realistically all you could have...
it feels good, [and] you’re at
peace with yourself.”
By Reese Weddendorf
& Avery Tortora
Club Spotlight: Film, Indian culture, and periods
Staff Writers
“Knives Out,” “Smile” and
“The Truman Show” are just a
few of the movies the East Film
Club has watched this year.
Meeting once a month in
Room 243, co-presidents Shania
Khasraw and Kate Maciel run
the East Film Club, a new
addition this year.
In the club, interactive
activities and group discussions
with the 30-some members
based on the movies they have
watched together provide an
opportunity to celebrate their
Avery Tortora/The ECHO
common appreciation for
cinematography.
“We do quizzes based on
the movie. We always have a
slideshow and have questions on
the movie,” Khasraw said.
As a part of the club, members
get to vote on a movie, talk with
club members about it, and share
a passion for film together.
“We really like that there’s a
group of people that we can share
this with… Everybody gets to
watch new movies they haven’t
seen before,” Khasraw said.
In Chapel Hill, a place where
only 2.2 percent of residents are
Indian Americans, East’s Indian
Culture Club hopes to serve
as a platform to promote and
strengthen Indian culture.
“It’s hard to relate with
people,” said co-founder and cochairman
Atchuthan Rangarajan.
“We wanted to make a place
where we can strengthen our
culture at school, where people
can relate to others who share the
culture… and promote cultural
education.”
With this goal in mind,
meetings feature presentations
and activities relating to certain
Fareeda Malik/The ECHO
aspects of Indian culture, from
music and movies to food and
sports.
The Indian Culture Club was
created last year by five cofounders.
Since then, it has
grown to include 20 members
and has participated in several
events, including the 2023 Asian
Night. However, according to
Rangarajan, these activities are
only the start.
“We’d like to connect Indian
culture from East right out and
into the community,” Rangarajan
said. “We’re trying to educate
people of other cultures about
our culture.”
The East Period Club, run
by seniors Tatum Cubrilovic,
Yae Young Kim and Susannah
Bartlett, aims to bring
awareness and destigmatize
periods.
“We want to make people
aware that this problem is going
on,” Kim said.
Co-president Cubrilovic
says the club’s main goal is to
“reduce the stigma of periods at
East and create more outreach
to the community of Chapel
Hill, while also advocating
Courtesy of Period Club
for period products in school
bathrooms.”
Meeting every Wednesday
in the ceramics room, the
club discusses how to make
the community more periodfriendly.
“There’s products available
in the nurse’s office… we
understand that that’s not
enough. So I think the next step
would be to somehow reach out
to an external collaborator about
getting actual dispensaries in
bathrooms,” Cubrilovic said.