Zoey Berghorst, a junior at Luverne High School, is making robotics program history.
Berghorst is one of four Minnesota semi-finalists named to the FIRST dean’s list, selected for her leadership potential based on the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) program’s core values.
She’s participated in each of the three FIRST programs: Lego League (FLL), technical challenge (FTC) and robotics competitions (FRC).
Lately most of her time has been spent working with teammates in the robotics team’s workroom in the school basement.
“It’s all I do,” Berghorst said. “I spend most of my days down here.”
Her selection as a dean’s list semi-finalist puts her in elite company, — one where she is excited to learn more about robotics from students across the U.S.
She’ll complete an interview to decide the dean’s list finalist at the upcoming FTC World Championships in April.
“I am really excited to be going on to the next stage where I can see FTC robots in action,” she said.
Berghorst was nominated by LHS robotics coach Aaron Perkins, who’s worked with Berghorst since her initial introduction to the FIRST program as an elementary student.
Perkins nominated Berghorst for the award that selects 10 sophomores and juniors from across the U.S. for the FIRST annual dean’s list.
“She’s taught fellow students engineering, coding and teamwork skills over the years,” Perkins said.
“Most recently she mentored our girls FLL (FIRST Lego League) team to the South Dakota State tournament.”
Berghorst assisted her fellow teammates at the FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) to win the communication award last fall. She also assisted the team in their ninth-place finish in the nation with the KIBO (an introductory programmable robotics kit for elementary students). The competition allowed students to program a robot in the International Space Station.
Berghorst is one of 17 high school students who helped begin the Luverne High School robotics team in the fall of 2019.
They named themselves the “Mighty Morphing Banana Slugs” and went on to claim the rookie inspirational award at the Great Northern Regional FIRST Robotics Competition.
The rookie inspiration award recognized the team for their recruitment, outreach, commitment and understanding of the FIRST mission.
Berghorst has been instrumental in furthering the team’s and her own participation in the FIRST core values of discovery, innovation, impact, inclusion, teamwork and fun.
She’s quick to point to the source of her focus and the success of the LHS robotics program.
“It’s a total team effort,” Berghorst said.