Mars Robotics students Luke Kastner and Owen Anderson make adjustments to their robot Tuesday, Feb. 7, while meeting in the Mars borough building basement. Austin Uram/Butler Eagle

MARS — Almost 30 parents and students accompanied the Mars Robotics Association to a borough meeting Monday, Feb. 6, in an effort to negotiate the group’s rent.

For a little over a year, the association has been renting the Mars borough building’s basement. In January, the borough told the group that there would be an increase in the space’s rent.

“They were looking to raise our rent,” said Jeff Beckstead, Mars Robotics president and mentor, “and being a donation-funded organization, it’s a stretch.”

Students in the organization highlighted its programs and benefits to the Mars community in a presentation for council members, who discussed the proposed raise in executive session after the meeting.

“The increase in rent with the borough would make another burden on either raising dues or taking other programmatic money away,” Beckstead said. “Right now, our rent is a sixth of our budget, and the rest of that goes primarily to the student programs.”

Of the association’s over 50 students, only one of them lives in the Mars area. Its programs regularly draw families from as far as New Castle, according to Beckstead, and many of these families voiced their support for the group at Monday’s meeting.

“Our approach was really just reminding the borough of what we do for the borough itself,” Beckstead said. “One of the major aspects of FIRST, which is the governing program, is really getting students connected to their community, as well as professionals.”

The For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology organization, or FIRST, is a series of international programs that the association participates in. As part of these programs, the group consistently qualifies for and travels to robotics competitions throughout the country.

Mars Robotics’ FIRST Lego League challenges students in grades four to eight to develop solutions to real-world problems. Austin Uram/Butler Eagle

Lindsey Gourash, student outreach lead, said the engineering, logistics, marketing and management required for these competitions is entirely student-driven.

“Any job that you could think of that a company would need, we have, because we operate like one,” Gourash said. “There’s a student-structure, so the entire company is basically ran by students.”

While robotics remains at the heart of the organization, this student-driven approach prepares participants for much more than a career in engineering.

“Honestly, ‘robots’ is just kind of the gimmick,” mentor Aaron Wollerton said. “Most of what we do is teaching them how to start and run a business — it’s entrepreneurship.”

The organization’s massive contact list — which spans NASA employees and government agencies — has given students the opportunity to network in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, or STEAM, fields. This combination of networking and entrepreneurship has seen members organize the first pitch by a robot at PNC park, contribute to the passing of the CHIPS and Science Act in Washington, D.C., and even develop applications with local businesses.

“I worked with Bryan Salesky — who was the CEO of Argon AI — we made an application for a different company,” said Luke Kastner, student operations lead. “He mentored me, and a lot of other team members have done things like that.”

For student software lead Owen Anderson, the programs have directly shaped his plans for the future.

“Right now, it’s doing sustainable agriculture,” he said. “Combining STEM with agriculture, different things like doing aquaponics and stuff like that, to grow food in a more environmentally friendly and also local way so people can get food easier.”

Anderson said his interest in agriculture — specifically aquaponics — stems from a robotics project in grade five. He and his group were invited to construct a monitoring system in Chatam University’s aquaculture lab, and the experience stuck with him.

“Since then I’ve built seven different aquaponics systems and grown lots of food,” Anderson said. “For dinner last night we had salad from my aquaponic garden — in the middle of winter. And that’s how I got started, through FIRST.”

The group cited its participation in a variety of borough events and projects — including the Mars New Year celebration and the creation of the Mars Discovery Center — to emphasize its relationship to the borough.

“The Mars Robotics Association loves being in the borough,” said Linda Gourash, vice president. “We love being able to be a part of everything in the borough.”

Mayor Gregg Hartung said that council members discussed the group’s rent after the meeting, during executive session.

“They only raised the rent $100,” Hartung said. “It was a really great outcome for everyone.”

To the Mars Robotic Association, that decision made a substantial difference.

“Having that space makes a big impact on many kids’ lives,” Lindsey Gourash said.