by Sydney Perkins |

The Liberty High School Robotics Team hosted a Drive One fundraising event, sponsored by Gary Crossly Ford, on September 22. The event lasted from 9:00a.m- 3:00p.m, and was held at the Liberty Public Schools District Administration Building. During the fundraiser-licensed drivers over the age of 21 were able to test drive a brand new ford vehicle. For each ride Garry Cross donated $20 to the Liberty Robotics team. There were also numerous raffles and giveaways throughout the day.

This event is important to the club as it helps raise money for their robot and ability to attend competitions.

“The money goes to pay for our different competitions and any other kind of cost that our robot will need. We have to pay for what we put on the robot specifically, like if we want to add different parts then we will get a kit of parts. Also, just going to competitions because it can cost a lot of money to go and get registration fee, as well as traveling there, as well as any other extra things like food,” senior Morgan Hayter, said.

Students, teachers and parents dedicated a lot of their time and are the reason behind why the event was a success.

“The robotics team and parent volunteers spent hundreds of hours to make this event happen. It took six weeks of planning and working diligently to secure donations and then the gift baskets took approximately one and half weeks to put together,” Lesli Hayter, mother of senior Morgan Hayter said.

There were many events spaced throughout the fundraiser. Not only just for adults but kids as well. The major events that took place were the drive one, raffles and the silent auction. The giveaways in the silent auction ranged anywhere from Liberty and Liberty North attire to Royals tickets and were a big hit.

“We had a silent auction, we had the raffle, we were also selling L.E.D light bulbs because as a team we do sell L.E.D light bulbs, as well. Then we were outdoors, we had Gorillas barbeque… we had the ford drive one event, which was a big part of it, Gary Crossly Ford brought in several automobiles that people could come and test drive, all they had to do was fill out a piece of paper, then Ford donated $20. We had the robot going and kids games set up, the kids could make a little brush bot. They could play some other games and win some lollypops and other things like that.”

This fundraiser also gave them a great chance to show off their robot.

“Our most recent robot plays a game called Rebound Rumble it pretty much plays basketball,” junior Chase Hill said.

This fundraiser is in many ways very important to the team.

“This is really the major one that we do, any other fundraiser that we do are going to involve just straight up selling things. This has a much greater community outreach to it,” Robotics sponsor Gary Pierson said.

Many students on the Robotics team really enjoy this event. It is at the very beginning of the year, because many students feel it is a great way for the team to bond and get to know each other well. They are able to show people in the community what they have been working hard on and educate people on what they are really all about.

“I really like it when we are together as a team and people from the community who have maybe never seen what the robot does, what the team does, gets to come up and see what the robot was like last year or how it functions from last year and not to mention it is just excellent community outreach,” Pierson said.

“It is fun hanging out with the robotics kids. It’s always fun hanging out with people who are in your club and I really enjoyed that. It was also nice talking to parents and other people in the community who just came out to see it who had no idea what robotics was… and explain what you’re doing and I thought that was cool,” Hayter said.

Last years fundraiser in comparison to this years’ was very different. Last year, they sold Red wheel Food items and lollipops to raise money. However, this year’s proved more effective.

“We made more money this year than we have in the past the amount of work that students and parents put into it was huge difference in this case,” Mrs. Hayter said. “It was a huge success and we owe a great big thank you to the community merchants who supported us, as well as the individuals who came out to support our event,”

Everyone who participated in the event would agree, that this fundraiser was in fact a huge success. Because of their hard work and dedication, they were able to exceed their very own expectations for the drive one fundraiser.