by Cameron Loyd.
Just after finals ended last semester, a small team of our members dedicated some of their free days to cleaning, organizing, and improving our space in the Student Competition Center (SCC). The casually dubbed “Shop Rehab Day” actually took place over 3 days and involved repainting walls, throwing out or giving away unused items, replacing furniture, and wiping down tables and computers. A mural was also painted in the mechanical room to give the shop some additional RoboJackets spirit.
Cleaning and organizing are not activities that tend to be on the top of the list of hobbies for a college student; however, our members buckled down and put in the time to improve and update our shop. Shop rehab participant and RoboJackets president Alex Field had this to say about the event:
I think what stands out to me the most is how excited and enthusiastic everyone was to improve the space. Our members spend a significant portion of their time at Georgia Tech at our shop so this is a place that contains a lot of meaningful experiences and memories for the students. It means a lot that everyone wanted to work so hard to give back to the space and I am proud of everything that was accomplished during the event.
The main project of this year’s Shop Rehab Day was the new mural in the mechanical room, shown above. The mural includes RoboBuzz, our beloved mascot, and the RoboJackets mission statement: promote, educate, advance. This mural will advertise our mission to new members and act as a centerpiece of our shop when hosting sponsors.
The undertaking begun in December will continue into the spring semester with organization of our space in the SCC mezzanine, an IT cleanout, and installation of additional storage in the mechanical and field rooms. There are already plans to make Shop Rehab Day a yearly event for RoboJackets, and we hope to see future members enthusiastically participate in and benefit from this effort.
