By Ryan Shepperd ’23 (Journalism) Friday, September 16, 2022
The third floor of Savio Hall. Credit: Ryan Shepperd
RAMSEY, N.J.- Don Bosco Prep has a new robotics and engineering learning center on the third floor of Savio Hall. Two donors pitched in to help make it happen: the Forgione family, and another anonymous donor. Thanks to their donations, Don Bosco has named this area the Forgione Family Engineering Center.
The Forgione Family Engineering Center has two classrooms and lab space including a large multipurpose area for the school community.
Fr. Louis Konopelski, the moderator of the robotics team, said that having the 3rd floor reserved for robotics will help the team:
“We didn’t have enough space to operate machines and stuff, so they gave us the chance to custom design space rather than use the straight classroom space for the program. The school felt the program had grown enough that it warranted that kind of effort.”
“It’s spaced more suitable for what we are trying to do. We can get new engineering machines that we didn’t really have space to put in. We can now get them, and it allows us to get additional things in that we haven’t had before, [which] allows us to have additional capabilities.”
Fr. Lou Konopelski
Fr. Konopelski said the team was excited about the new space. He also commented that their backs will be very happy: “Instead of having to roll out carpet and carry it down the stairwell, unroll the carpet, practice, roll the carpet back up, and go back up the stairwell, we don’t have to do that any more.”
Twenty percent of last year’s student body was involved in the robotics program, which has been very successful over recent years competing at a high level. This success has led to the robotics program partnering with New Jersey Institute of Technology to help its growth and give opportunities to the students to learn high level material.
The future of the robotics team is looking very bright as their hard work is paying off.