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Designs for a bright future South Medford robotics students Cormac Webb, left, and Evan Poitevint disassemble a machine to make a new robot design in class Wednesday. [Mail Tribune / Andy Atkinson] Wednesday Sep 20, 2017 at 5:50 PM Sep 20, 2017 at 5:50 PM By Tran Nguyen Mail Tribune Cormac Webb, 17, sporting his South Medford High School hoodie, mindfully unscrewed a bolt off an old robotics model as his two teammates examined a plate in an effort to build the back of a new prototype for this semester's project. Their goal, said Evan Poitevint, 17, is to create a mobile robot with two "arms" that will be strong enough to grab cone-shaped obstacles and stack them up. Each cone they stack counts as one point, and their team plans to rack up a lot of points. Poitevint said they'll have to work during class and at home the whole semester to finish. "It's so rewarding, though — this is my second year taking this class," Poitevint said. "You get to learn a lot of real-life skills in this class. Besides learning how to build robots, teamwork is a big one, (also) problem solving, because things never go right — and working under the pressure, too." "We also learn that it's OK to fail," said Tristin Kohler, 17, the third teammate. "There's a lot of experimenting." The class is part of a Career and Technical Education program, one of three recipients for the Medford School District's new state funding of roughly $3.5 million in the next two years, thanks to voter-approved Measure 98. The measure's goal is to increase high school graduation rates. Of the $1.7 million Medford receives this year, roughly $600,000 will go to CTE, $360,000 to College and Career Readiness and $770,000 to dropout prevention programs, Superintendent Brian Shumate said. Next year, Medford will receive $1.8 million. Besides expanding existing CTE programs, the district aims to start new programs in computer science, plumbing, electrical and heating, ventilation and air conditioning, Shumate said. These programs will provide students with more options for future careers as they figure out what they might like — or not like, South Medford CTE teacher Wade Kadrmas said.  "It's very exciting right now — we are definitely spending some money on these programs," Kadrmas said. "It's going to be about giving students more career options in different areas. Right now they don't know what it's like being an electrician, but they could try it here, and if they find out they don't want to be that, it's OK, because they won't be wasting money in college taking those classes." The funding for college-readiness programs will help students take college classes while still in high school, pay for assessments such as the ACT, SAT and PSAT for juniors and seniors, and revamp the guidance counseling service, Shumate said. A big piece of the funding for dropout prevention programs will go to suicide prevention and mental health support counseling services, Shumate said. The district also will provide more support to homeless students and those in poverty through its partnership with the nonprofit Maslow Project. The district is also aiming to launch online classes in fall 2018 so students can personalized their schedules between their high school and college-level classes. "This fund, overall, will give us an opportunity to develop different types of programs that will fit different types of learners," Shumate said. "We are aiming for 80 percent graduation rates for the class of 2017, and with this, I think we will be able to achieve it." The three-year-old Robotics program, which provides students with hands-on experience in engineering and technology, has almost 50 students this semester, Kadrmas said. "It has been very successful. Student interest is high, and we're growing," Kadrmas said. "The students in here are learning engineering, how the pieces fit together, what makes a good structure. They also learn how to work together — it's important. This program not only provides the students the opportunity to learn this technology for free — inside these walls there's no tuition to pay — but also keeps them focused in school." South Medford senior Nicholas Sanchez said he started with robotics in his sophomore year as a mistake, but he's glad it happened. "It has become an interest, really, and it gives me an opportunity to grow, to build new things I never thought I could build," Sanchez said. "Next step, I'm starting a psychology class at RCC (Rogue Community College) in the next two weeks. Ultimately, I want to get my nursing degree at Portland State University." — Reach reporting intern Tran Nguyen at 541-776-4485 or [email protected]