Robotics spark youths’ math, science interests
05/20/12 San Francisco Examiner — Budget cuts have made it tough for public schools to provide much more than the basics, prompting fears that the next generation will lack knowledge of science, technology, engineering and math. But more students and educators in San Francisco are discovering that robotics competitions, such as the one sponsored by UC Berkeley's Pioneers in Engineering (PiE), are an appealing way to promote these so-called STEM fields. "Now, I think engineering isn't as hard or as impossible," said Andy Wong, robotics team captain at Galileo Academy of Science and Technology, which partnered with Balboa High School to win first place in this year's PiE competition.