ABOUT US
WHO WE ARE
Team Berkelium is a Berkeley based high school robotics team, open to any students who want to join, regardless of technical background. Every year, we compete in international FIRST robotics competitions against thousands of other high school teams. Our mission is to provide high school students hands-on experience in STEM and business that they will carry with them through college and into their future careers.
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Our mission is to provide team members with hands-on experience in STEM fields, focusing on skills such as programming, machining, design, as well as media and business management. We also encourage the development of soft skills such as leadership, teamwork and mentoring fellow students. We strive to create an inclusive and diverse space, with 48% of students coming from underrepresented communities in STEM (women, BIPOC, Latinx, youth with disabilities, LGBTQIA+).
Subteams
Fabrication
Fabrication is the blood that powers Berkelium. They are the engineers who build our robot and turn our ideas into reality. This subteam is led by Omeed Eghtessadi-Reed. If you are interested in building the robot in the most direct way possible consider joining Fabrication!
CAD
The CAD team is the glue of this Robotics team. CAD designs all blueprints and develops the rough draft for the robot. All rough makeup throughout the seasons are created by CAD. CAD is an extremely important subteam led by Zael Johnson as they are the designers of the competing robot and are the first step towards the creation of one. If you are interested in designing the robot from start to finish, CAD is for you.
Public Relations
Business is focused on acquiring funding for the team through various ways such as reaching out to sponsors and businesses to collaborate with during the on and off season. Business is a group centered organization and values a dedicated subteam. Business led by Itta Behrman has grown to the team's funding and ability to participate in competitions around the world. If the knowledge of persuasive writing and budgeting skills is interesting to you, Business is a perfect fit. Through the Media team is how we reach the wider public. This subsection organizes outreach events,makes the team’s website and videos, and uploads on social media. When it comes to how our team presents itself, the Media team is the key to showing off our team to possible sponsors and/or other teams to get alliances. Media is also led by Itta Behrman. If you want to work on design, participate in outreach events, and be creative with a group of energetic people, media is for you.
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Coding
The Coding subteam acts as our lifeline. Every year the team  makes a  new robot. This robot has to be re-coded and programmed. However without the Coding team working tirelessly every day our robot would not be able to compete at the high level it does. This subteam requires a focused and determined person  that is very respected on the team. This subteam is led by Penn Lynch, and Grayson Appell and requires no former knowledge of code to join. If problem solving, logical thinking, and organization sound fun to you, consider joining the coding team.
Electrical
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Electrical is one the most steadfast focused parts of the team. Working on the wiring, battery usage and connecting sections of the robot together, electrical works very hard to keep the robot safe and operating.This sub team led by Zorian Passmore who has a very strong work ethic and is dedicated to details. If you are interested in how the inner makings of robots work, electrical is the place for you.
team History
Team 5419 is based out of Berkeley High School in Berkeley, CA. 5419 (originally the Natural Disasters) became a team in 2015, but we became Berkelium 4 years ago in 2020. In 2019, our team had just 7-10 people and has grown to over 80 people today, most of the growth being in the last year.
Coming back from online learning, during the 2022 build season, we only had about 20 consistent members, so our main focus turned to recruiting and maintaining engagement. To recruit, we put up signs around the school, participated in club fairs, and spoke to classrooms, and we got over 80 people at our first meeting of the 2022-2023 school year. During the offseason we built an entirely new robot to train our new students, and we went to both of our offseason competitions with two competitive robots. This created long lasting relationships, trained new students, and boosted team engagement.
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This past build season, we've attended 3 regional competitions, starting at the Port Hueneme Regional to the Sacramento Regional to the most upcoming, East Bay Regional, where we are hoping to qualify for champs!
Mentors
Our team has a number of mentors who guide and facilitate all of our activities. If a member ever has a question or needs help, they can always reach out to these trustworthy mentors.
Dirk Wright
Lead Mentor
Ben Scholar
Programming Mentor
Ronan Loberg
Mechanical tutor
Kelly Worley
Business Mentor
Ellie Buehler
Mechatronics Teacher
Alan Becker
Design Mentor
Cyndia Cao
Mechanical Mentor
Joe Angelo
Design Mentor
Our Team Leads
Our team is primarily student run with minimal mentor interference. Here are the people who help our team function acting as our team leads!
Isotopes
Our leaderships right hand workers.
Isotopes act as the right-hand side of the leadership members. They help lead projects assigned by the leadership and mentors and are essential to our team.
PR Isotope
Clio W.
PR Isotope
Evan M.
Fabrication Isotope
Cassian E.
Fabrication Isotope
Zev P.
Fabrication Isotope
Kaleb W.
CAD Isotope
Owen A.
CAD Isotope
Caroline S.
PR Isotope
Arya J.
Fabrication Isotope
Angel R.
Coding Isotope
Filipp K.
Fabrication Isotope
Daniel S.
Fabrication Isotope
Elliot T.
Media Iso
Donovan M.
JOIN THE SLACK!
Our team uses slack for a variety of purposes from communication to orginization it is an incredibly useful tool. Once you have joined the team get in touch with a mentor or leadership to join slack, download the app, and it will be one of your most used tools. Channels our team use go as follows. - General: meeting plans as well as general questions when it comes to things like, where to go, whats going on, and when are things. -Announcements: any events going on or any big entire team information will be announced here. Leadership and mentors are the only ones who use this channel much and its used as a PSA for the whole team. -Subteam sections: whichever subteam you choose to be a part of they will be providing info to you specific to said subteam through these channels. For example if a tool is missing in the FAB room then the FAB lead might messege the Fabrication channel to find out who has it.