People might not know what the Clague Robotics team is, but they are a group of people who have a passion for coding, building, strategizing, and designing. At Clague, there are two competing teams, 7305 (The Gearcats) and 23606 (The Cougears). They practice twice a week and work together to design and test their robots. The main coach and organizer is Mary Manthey who is also a PLTW teacher. They also have Coach James, Coach Brandon, and Coach Mineesh. Coach Brandon works at The University of Michigan Robotics (FMCRB), and the other coaches are parents who have experience.
Currently working in the Team in Training is Alice Kato.
“I like it a lot because I get to build robots and hang out with my friends, two of my favorite things,” Kato said.
Kato works with the Graphic Design team, builds, and creates buttons for each competition.
As one might know, there was a competition at Royal Oak Middle School called the Royal Oak Qualifier. 23606 (The Cougears) won 8th place, and 7305 won 34th place, due to a program breakdown. Even though the results weren’t what the teams at Clague were expecting, but they learned from their experience.
“I enjoyed it because we tried our hardest in the competition and we saw different strategies people used to compete,” Jaleya Grady, Graphic Designer said.
She loved watching the other teams competing with each other.
On Nov. 22, 2025, there was another competition called the Ann Arbor Qualifier, and the seventh grade (7305) was the only Ann Arbor Public Schools team to participate in the states and the first team from Clague to qualify to the states. The unique thing about their teams is that the students built their own robots from scratch unlike most teams throughout Ann Arbor.
Mary Manthey coaches both robotics teams.
“I enjoyed watching the amazing robots that our Clague teams built and programmed,” Manthey said.
Everyone has had so much fun during practices, and the snacks are always really delicious. The Clague Robotics Team is a very fun place to hang out with your friends and learn the basics of coding, building, designing, and controlling robots.
“It’s a place where you can communicate with people and share new ideas from different points of view,” Grady said,
The 7305 team has worked hard for their State Championship, and they got 19th place. Before the competition, some people in their team had said that they could have a stronger portfolio to talk to the judges about their robots. There are other ideas, like more outreaches, more sensors for the robots, and more planning. With coaches, detailed plans, and teamwork, the Clague Robotics teams are ready. And with their friends and everyone cheering them on, they can do this.
“I learned coding and other things, and I like doing it with my friends,” Annabelle Yang, Strategist said.
The Clague Robotics team is one of the teams in all of Ann Arbor. All the members of the club think of a lot of new ideas. Even though some competitions may not go as planned, they always learn something new and have their minds functioning at all competitions.
