As robotics begins to take off locally, one school district is joining the parade.

According to Superintendent of Warrensburg-Latham Schools, Kristen Kendrick-Weikle, one of their teachers volunteered to lead the group and it started strong in the junior high ranks and has maintained it's momentum.

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Getting the program up and running was not an overnight procedure. Kendrick-Weikle explains organizers of the group received a great deal of community support, so much in fact, the district is considering making robotics an elective course next year.

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As the district seeks to expand it's opportunities for students in robotics, the classes would need to be more interactive and challenging for students. Kendrick-Weikle explains they would likely expand their computer science offerings to continue to advance the skills of the students that take the elective.

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Kendrick-Weikle believes robotics is an area of study that touches on many of the new standards put out by the state board of education and the federal government. She points to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) as the points of emphasis among those standards.

She explains the program is so popular, they do not have enough robotics kits to go around for all their students, so funding is going to be a major challenge going forward for the program.