Author: Mackenzie Bollinger ~ Cosmetology Class of 2025

Editor: Owen Davis ~ Computer and Office Technology Class of 2025

The “Whirrr” is back and something is moving through the halls. If you can hear the speaker playing “Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer”, It’s the SpheroBolts! The small metal and plastic orbs with color-changing LEDs are back and wandering about again for the second time this year! Mrs. Brown’s STEAM class recently used these robots to participate in 3 separate games that are all related to a specific holiday song: “Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer”, originally written by Randy Brooks.

Inspired by a TikTok challenge, STEAM students decided to have a little fun with the song They made robot reindeer shells for their Sphero and chipboard grandma figurines for some STEM holiday fun! The games all included putting decorated cups over the bots, featuring pictures of reindeer that the students decorated themselves as well as cups with drawings of “grandma”. To get used to this activity, students played a practice game where they used the bots, or “Reindeer”, to race to push their “Grandma” over the line first.

Once familiar with the activity, the six students split into teams of three to play soccer, in which each team had to work together to push a “grandma” over the line on the opposite side of the hallway.

At first, the target was pretty close in a nice compact line— just for practice, but soon, the targets were placed farther away and set at different distances away from the “starting line” — increasing the challenge.

With each attempt, they’d adjust their approach and try to accomplish their task more efficiently. STEAM teacher, Ms. Julie Brown said, “It was so much fun watching the kids have so much fun! They didn’t even realize they were learning.”

Although the kids were asked to tally up and keep track of how many cups they bowled over — the final results weren’t the focus. In the end, it was a win for all!