About Us
Here at RamTech 59, we cultivate culture, community, and STEAM. Together we work to expand the future workforce and push students to aim for higher education. Along with a strong robotics base, we maximize all possible outreach opportunities through showcases such STEM Day at the Capitol, Marlin's STEM Day, and the Miami-Dade College Maker Fair. RamTech 59 is a staple in our county and South Florida as a whole, becoming a backbone of our district, and helping all teams with problems related to the robot, organization, and outreach.
Education
Based out of a public school, RamTech understands the struggles members can face in regards to learning. We do our best to find a solution that works for everyone, whether it involves advocating in our school for certain advanced classes or teaching the classes ourselves. RamTech 59 pushes students to follow their passions by incorporating other programs as well. For example, the DronesInSchool program allows people with more interest in aerospace to learn about it and get certifications in it.
Ramtech Summer Camp
The RamTech Summer Camp is an integral part of RamTech needed to keep us running smoothly. There is an attendance of around 60 - 65 children yearly a number that has grown from our initial group in 2016. Younger attendees are put into the lego room and learn basic STEM concepts; they participate in educational conversations and lessons that help them get ahead of their peers. Older students are given the choice between VEX IQ, VEX, Drones, and RC cars. In VEX IQ and VEX they split up into teams and build their own robots before pitting them against each other. In Drones they learn how to pilot the drones and fly in simulated environments that mimic real life planes. In RC cars they learn how to maintain, modify, design, and drive their cars.
We have a yearly profit of around $40,000 from the camp. We also allow in some campers in for free as we understand that a lack of money shouldn't be the reason that potential dies. In addition to the money earned by the program, the students work a paid internship to earn money for trips. Each student that participates as an intern earns $1,500 for their work and actual work experience. RamTech students also work outside of the internship as volunteers. These students work up to 150 hours during the 2 weeks and use these hours to gain scholarships.
Inclusion
Doing our best push through the expectation of society, we are working to create an equitable environment. Coming from a low socioeconomic school with high ESOL student body, we operate with the utmost care for our students despite their background and highly encourage all students to join RamTech 59. Recently we have successfully merged with the HOSA organization branch of our school, which is highly female dominated, uniting the talents of our engineering and medical programs under RamTech.
We have created a sense of community through the different cultures spread by our members. This is due to a program RamTech provides that allows each member to bring meals for the team during build season. With our students bringing dishes from their ethic backgrounds to share, they give the whole team a unique taste from around the world.
Ramtech Wiki
The RamTech Wiki is an invaluable resource for students and members of FIRST everywhere. It offers information on where to buy materials, organization, design software's, teaches general physics concepts, tells you everything you need to know on basic mechanical systems, shows you how to use manufacturing tools and machines, teaches you how to program your robot, and even demonstrates how to test batteries. The wiki also includes instructional modules on SolidWorks, advanced mechanics, and even building a basic tank drive FRC chassis with video tutorials and materials lists included.
Curriculum
In MCPSH RamTech has contributed largely to the Engineering Magnet program. Our school's program has created the need for high level courses like Statics, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry, AP Physics 1, AP Physics C Mechanics, AP Physics C Electricity and Magnetism, ect... These courses are an extremely large head start to students interested in STEM careers and teaches them difficult concepts in a careful and detailed manner. The reason our school now offers these courses is largely due to RamTechs influence. Our mentors and STEM teachers have put in the work needed to convince our administrators that these college courses are needed.
In addition to the extensive college courses taught to our students, they also take certification exams for AutoCAD and Solidworks. All our sophmores are certified in AutoCAD by the end of the year, and all juniors are certified in Solidworks as well by the end of the year.
Offseason
During the 2024 offseason RamTech had its first successful offseason robot. The robot was made by the younger more recent members of the team and allowed for them to learn and make mistakes without the stress of messing up during the season. These young students needed to learn to CAD, manufacture, assemble, wire, and program the robot. While they did have access to mentors if they got stuck a majority of the robot was completely student made. This activity as a whole built a strong team that knows how to work together and acted as a starting point for students trying to get into FRC.
Sparktech
It's difficult to put Sparktech into words, you'd have to witness footage and pictures to truly grasp what we do. The students in Kenya have incredibly limited resources, and Sparktech works to provide new opportunities like information which they don't have and resources which they can't obtain. None of the kids have personal computers at home, so they rely on the ones we ship to the school along with our speakers, cameras, generators, and more. The lessons are boundless, and we've had guests on the meetings such as Green Ridge National Laboratory material scientist Mark Zach.
Visit Spark Tech Tutoring on Instagram