2 Train Robotics

Each afternoon during the build season, students from Morris Academy take the number 2 train from the Bronx into Manhattan to meet at Columbia University’s mechanical engineering lab and hammer out a robot.  This long commute through rain or shine is what gives FIRST Robotics Competition team #395 its name: 2 Train Robotics. Since the team’s inception in 1999, 2 Train has been a source of encouragement, challenge, and self-discovery for the high school students that join and graduate from the team each year.

The 2009 FIRST season marks 2 Train’s 10th anniversary as a team, which was first established by retired teacher Gary Israel whose vision was to bring an after-school program that provided science and technology resources for students who did not have them. Students mainly come from the 5 schools of Morris High School Campus in the Bronx in addition to other high schools located throughout New York City. 2 Train Robotics holds its meetings everyday at Columbia University and has a very special relationship with the engineering department, which has always supported the team. The mentors for the team spring from past students, who have since graduated high school and returned as mentors, or Columbia engineering students and staff.

2 Trains’ successful history as an engineering team, a community outreach, and a family to each of its members not only comes from the carrying out the mission of FIRST, but from the unique dynamics and skills of each student. The motivation and passion behind 2 Train Robotics has always centered around improving the lives of the students in the Bronx and warrants its name as the “Ambassadors of the Bronx.”