Longmont's 50-member Up-A-Creek Robotics team just got a much bigger pad, reports the Longmont Times-Call. Niwot's Terry and Cathy Olkin bought the high schoolers a $1.05 million building, and plan to let them use half of its 13,600 square feet.
Terry Olkin told the paper that he'll lease the other half of the building to recover some of the cost, but mainly, he wanted the team to have a facility "as good as other people."
Previously, the team had been using space from the St. Vrain Valley School Districts' career development center. Or when that failed, they'd pack up and go to Seagate's facilities, since the company sponsored the team.
With the bigger space, the team says they'll have the space they needed all along, as well as some opportunities to start recruiting middle schoolers:
"We're a high school team so kids are constantly leaving and joining and unlike working for a company, the turnover is really high," [said John Rigsby, the team's lead mentor.] "We're always trying to find pretty efficient ways to teach students new skills."
