Uh, I got shot. A few times.
I was somewhere playing some games, video games and stuff.
It wasn't too far away from my house.
People came and there were guns and they tried to use them. They did.
It's like nobody really safe. You can be safe by, you know, following what you feel
is okay as far as you know going to school every day and joining after-school programs and you know, stuff like that.
But
as far as like, your safety, that comes with
with being somewhere else.
Three months earlier
Saginaw, MI
Ladies and gentlemen, let's get these machines powered up.
Let's get this championship under way.
Robot! Robot!
You guys want to talk strategy?
Well, we're good with the switch and a scale so then we have to dominate you guys.
It's like 100% mental, nothing physical. So you got to be locked in up here.
And for people who like give all their time and energy and build these big things, it's more like a bloodsport
these guys are aggressive and aggressive nerds is scary. It's scary
From Centerline this year, we got Team 6099.
Many Detroit high schools have formed robotics teams in the last few years to help their students explore potential careers in STEM fields
Most of these schools are being helped by the University of Michigan through the Michigan Engineering Zone also known as the MEZ.
After reforming three years ago with the help of the MEZ, Osborn makes it to the State
Championships as the only Detroit public high school to do so in 2018.
Dennis is the team's driver.
I've been known as for two years and I'm actually pretty good according to everybody else.
If this is where I'm at in two years, imagine where it'll take me in the next two years.
Good job everyone! Give me five! Give me five!
We know that Detroit has economic exodus,
not just of the city but of the neighborhoods and our neighborhood is looked at as one of the not so good.
What happens many times as kids wind up raising themselves.
There's a lot of frustration that drives that, a lot of broken relationships
disappointment, dreams that have gone bad.
It's more of a test of like how serious are you in getting out?
After you want so much and you figure out that there's nothing's coming about it. Then you get comfortable with being here
And then that's where shit gets wrong.
My students, especially the males, don't know anybody
successful outside of school.
They haven't seen an engineer, they haven't seen a robotics field.
They haven't seen that, they don't see it because it's not right here in their community,
the students don't reach further than the community
So bringing that robotics, the MEZ,
it gives our students an opportunity to see something different, to do something different, and to be something different.
Where are all Detroit students? If you're a student in the city of Detroit, let me hear you.
At the end of the robotic season, the MEZ brings together teams across the city to celebrate their accomplishments.
All 31 seniors involved with the MEZ will be graduating high school and attending college in the fall.
We're going to ask each of the seniors to come up, introduce themselves, and what school they've been admitted for.
In the fall, I'll be attending Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama.
University of Detroit Mercy
Henry Ford Community College
Wayne State
Washtenaw Community College
Jackson Community College
Lawrence Tech University
University of Michigan - College of Engineering
Michigan Technological University
Hey, I'm Dennis Martin and I go to Osborne High School and I will be attending Central State University.
I got a list from the counsellor
of students that must go to summer school to graduate.
He's on that list.
In the week since the banquet Dennis's momentum stalls.
He doesn't graduate with the rest of the seniors and needs to go to summer school.
So whether or not he finishes and completes everything is still...
I think he will.
I'm happy either way as long as he's doing something moving forward.
The neighborhood's pressures come calling too.
Dennis is shot multiple times during a robbery at a neighbor's house.
I told my friend Harry before this happened. That's like my best buddy, man.
And I told him we told each other like bro, whatever happens, but we got to go to school.
We got to go to Central State. That's where we were going go.
I don't know where we're going to go but, shit, we going to have to go, we are going to have to do something.
It don't matter, because if you don't do something and you're sitting still
you are liable to be in a situation you don't want to be in. If this ain't nothing, it's a wake-up call.
So I'm up now.