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In the weeks since County Executive Steuart Pittman released his $1.7 billion budget, students at Annapolis High School are wondering why funding for their robotics team was slashed.

The Board of Education’s $40,000 request for high school robotics didn’t make it to Pittman’s proposal, which was revealed May 1. School board members advocated for the funding after hearing testimony from students across the county.

Now, students in the Technology Student Association at Annapolis High worry the lack of funding will continue to deter other kids from joining the club — students are asked to pay $25 in dues. Natalie Hardin, 17, said students have complained the club is too “expensive.”

“A lot of people that wanted to join but upon seeing how much it would cost, dropped out,” Hardin said.

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The club does not get any school funding, but relies on student fees, fundraising and outside grants, said Steven Latchaw, technology department chair at Annapolis High. He and his students sometimes pay out-of-pocket for equipment.

It affects the team’s ability to recruit diverse members and compete.

Latchaw, who oversees TSA, estimates it costs about $1,200 to run the club. That includes tools, supplies and software to develop gadgets, from animatronic machines to fighting robots to motorized airplanes.

It costs even more money to send students to competitions. It will cost $2,500 to send seven students to the National TSA Conference in Washington this summer. A local construction company has chipped in to sponsor the group, said Latchaw.

The decision to deny Board of Education’s request was an issue of equity, said Chris Trumbauer, senior advisor to the county executive.

“We decided we didn’t like the idea of us picking winners and losers, or particular clubs to give support funding to,” Trumbauer said. “We were worried about the precedent that that would set if we gave the (Board of Education) funding for one particular club because there’s dozens, if not more, of clubs and they’re all valuable.”

Students at high schools like Broadneck and Annapolis are trying to get through to the County Council, and have testified at public budget hearings. Members have the ability to reintroduce the funding.

“It would take the burden off of some of our students,” Hardin said. She wants to pursue physics in college. “Skills like the robotics club will help me in college, help in my career and we’re not getting any funding for skills I’ll use my entire life.”

Latchaw’s classroom has drills and soldering irons, metal gears and hunks of wood. It’s where many students are exposed to possibilities in STEM, he said.

Owen Fleming, 15, got involved in the group this school year.

“It gives me a place to go and something to do,” Owen said. The group meets during the day, so kids with after-school responsibilities — like jobs or athletics — can take part. “TSA is the only club I can do.”

Latchaw described a student who didn’t know he was interested in engineering until he started working on robots.

“He went from, ‘this is kind of neat, I might work in construction like my father,’ to ‘I might be able to go to college,’” Latchaw said.

Robotics funding varies from building to building, as every school can disperse funds based on programmatic needs, said Maneka Monk, a spokesperson for the Anne Arundel County school district. School gets money for programs like athletics, co-curricular activities and STEM programs.

For schools like Annapolis, there is no funding. It affects the way students build their projects, Natalie said.

“We pride ourselves on salvaging our parts and making everything by hand,” said Natalie, who is working on wearable technology to prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Aiden Jones, 15, said he notices students at competitions have advantages over his own team. But it’s a good opportunity to learn, he said.

At a competition in March, Aidan couldn’t manage to launch a plane he’d toiled over for weeks off the ground. So judges and other students lent some advice.

“Even though I didn’t win, I learned a lot of different things. It was still a positive experience,” he said.

Although TSA has managed to operate without school funding, physics teacher and TSA advisor Sebastian Serrano said the budget cut felt “unexpected.” He wants his students to get noticed by tech companies like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.

“You have a bunch of kids that have a whole bunch of work that other schools just don’t have to do,” he said.

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