When the Mitkof Middle School started a robotics class nearly 10 years ago only a couple students took the course. This quarter, there are 14 sixth-graders taking part and learning problem solving skills through hands-on experience.

Rick Brock is responsible for bringing the program to Petersburg after seeing how well it worked at another school. Brock researched the program and thought it would be a good addition to the middle school's Exploratory Program, and asked the school to invest in setting up the program.

Brock says robotics has slowly grown and genuinely pushes kids to excel on...