The TCS robotics team, the Light Blue Lizards, is in charge of preparing Tikkun Olam Makers (TOM) for 2021 at The Columbus School, and despite the pandemic, students will be able to participate.

TOM is a three-day event in October where people develop a mechanical project to improve the lives of people with disabilities. This is the 5th year TCS has hosted TOM, and past projects have included many members and inventions.

“We don’t have a specific date for TOM to happen because of the COVID pandemic situation,” Andrea Cardenas, Grade 11, said.

The Lizards are working to convince the school administration to approve TOM on campus. However, due to safety concerns caused by the COVID pandemic, it is more likely that the event will be virtual.

“We want TOM to be in person. We wonder if we can have some people at the TCS and some at La Escuela de Ingeniería, ” Cardenas said.

Some of these requirements are that you cannot be failing any subject, be available the days TOM will be hosted, and not have any misconduct behavior in the past couple of years.  Although participation in TOM will be open to all of the TCS  community, it will be quite challenging for students to meet requirements and be accepted as a member of the team.

“TCS students will be able to participate in many different spots, but we have to follow the school standards when choosing the number of people who will participate since not everyone can join us for this TOM 2021,” Cardenas said.

The robotics team is recruiting engineers and programmers outside of school to prepare them to come work and help the students participating in the building and the development of the project.

“We are looking for people with an engineering career or something that has to do with mechanics and coding to help TOM. We are in contact with one biomedical engineer who is planning to help us with our FRC project as well as participating in TOM,” Santiago Valdes, a 10th-grade student, said.

Another challenge this year is Some projects might be delayed because of manufacturing the product.  This is usually done on campus during the event.

“The development of the project will be way harder virtually than on-site since we can do everything there and immediately start building and coding, but when we are virtual, it is going to be way harder,” Valdes said.

It is indeed that TOM 2021 has been approved, and it will be held at the TCS in October. Even with all of the current obstacles the TCS is facing, TOM 2021 will be happening with certain restrictions and changes. Nevertheless, nothing will stop its future development.

”TOM 2021 will be happening,” Cardenas said.