The tech club at The Morgan School isn’t just about robotics — it’s about creating an environment that promotes innovation and creativity. With new projects and a major robotics course on the horizon, students have the opportunity to forge new interests and experiment with technology.
The Origin Story
Around the beginning of the school year, teachers John Madura, Chad Neri, and Alex DiStefano, all teachers in the technology department, came together to create something they had in the works for around eight months – the Morgan Tech Club. With the collective thought one day to want to make a space for technical students to unite, they got the club approved, and were funded thousands of dollars from the school to kickstart the expensive, yet, extremely captivating club. “We launched with robotics, and we thought that was a really great entry point, where you don’t have to know anything to start,” Mr. Madura stated. “We wanted a space where kids can be creative with any technology… programming, building stuff, networks, cybersecurity, data science, [and] digital imaging.” Furthermore, this club is meant to serve as a precursor for the planned robotics class that the three are all pushing for next year.
A Relaxed Environment and Community
The premise of this club is meant to be a place where any student can go anytime on Monday’s after school from 2:15 to 4:00 in room A11, and just make things, dropping in and leaving whenever they want with no pressure for commitment. “One easy aspect—you could just show up… It’s a drop-in, no-pressure environment,” said Mr. Madura. “It’s very informal. People can work on robots or not work on robots—it’s all driven by interest.”
The president of the club, Ryan Gray, believes that this club has potential to unite students with interest in the field. “We’re using the machines in the engineering room, and we’re working on just making a tech society in Morgan,” Gray stated. “We’ve started building VEX robotics kits. We have 20 people’s worth of kits, and we’re doing our best to try to spread the word, get people working on them, and have fun with them.” Gray also emphasizes that this club is partially in preparation for gaining interest in the potential robotics class next year. “We’re trying to just make sure the teachers know kids who would be interested in taking the course next year, too.”
A Bigger Push For Creativity, Experimenting, and Mistakes
One thing about the club that is especially unique is the fact that it has large goals in mind that could reach beyond other clubs if successful. Mr. Madura is currently working on creating partnerships with local businesses, stating, “students would be able to start working on things that are related to local industries and manufacturing through this!” Another aspect of the club that he is especially proud of is the promotion of creative thinking. “We’re trying to instill a habit of mind… emphasizing experimentation, building, and doing something tangible with quality. Here, you can stop and think about why something isn’t working, without the pressure of due dates or grades,” says Mr. Madura. “It’s an experimental space for us to teach too—students and teachers work as thought partners rather than in a strict teacher-student hierarchy.”
How to Join
As the club is fairly new and has unseen potential, Mr. Madura is also passionate about having more people join, saying, “anyone can join. We have, like, three people that regularly come, but we’re trying to build it slowly and organically. Students want this. Maybe some of them don’t know it yet, but I think they want it.”
As of now, there are only three existing club members The reason for this is that the club is simply unknown to many students, so, Gray stated, “If you’re interested you can go to Mr. Madura’s room and ask about it, Mr. Neri knows a bit about it, and Mr. DiStefano knows a bit about it, or you could just ask around. If you want to join, either ask or just go to Madura’s room after school on Monday, and you’re in!”
