Retired robotics engineer gives back to underserved youth

MUSKEGON, Mich. (WOOD) — A group of students from Muskegon Heights had the opportunity to spend part of the day at the Lakeshore Fab Lab Thursday afternoon as part of the Pathfinders program.

Approximately a dozen students took part in a week-long STEM class led by U.S. Veteran and retired robotics engineer Rod Coley, who is working to teach the young students about the brain.

“All human minds want to know more of how to be better and I think that’s one of the things that we’re showing them today,” Coley said.

Through neuroeducation, Coley’s hope is that the students will realize they can shape whatever future they desire.

“We’re talking about a community that don’t have a lot, but what they do have is their brains, their creativity, and that’s what we want to build upon. And again as we build upon that, positive things are going to happen. And that’s what we believe,” Coley said.

The retired robotics engineer is passionate about giving back to youth in marginalized communities because he sees so much of himself in them.

“I’m trying to educate these young kids. Again, you don’t have to come up the rough side of the mountain,” he explained. “So as I get these lessons of how I got over and what society has shown and taught me, I’m instilling in these kids because they are me, and I am them, and we are one.”

For students like Justin Robinson, it’s a chance to see how much career potential is out there.

“It’s been a great experience helping me think about what jobs I want to do later on in life,” Robinson said. “The wiring in the room that we just came from, like with the houses and things, very interested in that.”

Coley said many African Americans are conditioned to believe there are certain things they’ll never be able to do. He wants to change that narrative.

“(It’s) an opportunity that’s more than what you see out your window. We got a whole world,” Coley said. “We talk about, ‘Oh you need to change mindset,’ but nobody has ever came in with instructions on how to shut down old neuro pathways and create some new ones.”

Coley plans to launch a STEMbotics program at Muskegon Heights High School which will start in the fall.

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