In March, graduate students from the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources spent a day at North Elementary School, helping fourth and fifth graders build and code their own Lego Milo robots.
The visit started with a chance encounter. While volunteering at a fundraising event, graduate students David Akomolafe, David Babalola, Benjamin Ilesanmi, and Immanuel Ulinfun met Sara Pennington, a teacher at North Elementary, who invited them to speak to her class.
“The idea was to make the most of whatever opportunity and resources we have, and it’s amazing how we found a special purpose in a meeting by chance,” Akomolafe said.
Not sure where to start, the group turned to Todd Ensign, a STEM outreach specialist at Fairmont State University and former NASA employee. Ensign happened to have more than $2 million in elementary robotics equipment ready to go, along with two decades of experience.
With equipment in hand, the graduate students designed a day inspired by NASA’s Artemis mission, where the elementary students learned how robots use sensors to navigate autonomously before racing their creations and cheering each other on.
“You could see the exact moment it clicked for them when their robot finally moved the way they wanted it to — that’s what makes days like this worth it,” Babalola said.
The outreach was amazing as one normally quiet student spent the rest of the day telling an older classmate about what he had learned. Even after the bell rang, 50 take-home glow stick kits donated by Suzanne McDonald, WVU Extension Specialist, kept the students’ curiosity going.
The day left a lasting impression on the volunteers as well. “Is this how you feel after every event, knowing you’ve helped change a life for the better?” Ulinfun asked Ensign once the day wrapped up.
The elementary school visit was part of a bigger effort. Following more than 200 volunteer hours over the past year, the group earned the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation’s Volunteer of the Year Award at the 2026 Northeast Aerial Drone Championship, held at Fairmont State University.
To help expand their reach, the group is now working alongside Annie Harmon, a program assistant for the Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering in the WVU Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.
“This is just the beginning. Expect us at all schools within Morgantown and beyond,” Ilesanmi said.