Former church is now the HQ for a STEM club of local students

A popular student robotics club has just moved into a new and bigger headquarters here and drew a large crowd of supporters Thursday at its grand opening.

The Paul George STEM Center’s first public open house celebrated its new home — a former church off of Dimmick Road in West Chester Twp. — after moving from an old, much smaller portable classroom loaned by the Lakota school system.

Credit: Nick Graham

Credit: Nick Graham

The center’s founder, Paul George, was a retired Procter & Gamble engineer who spent 27 years volunteering for the FIRST Robotics organization at the national level and was co-leader of the Lakota Robotics Program.

George passed from cancer in 2020 but left behind the funds for his beloved Lakota Robotics 1038 club to purchase the church property at 6856 Dimmick Road, said Jimmy Nichols, leader of the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) center and board president for Lakota Robotics, LLC.

ExplorePHOTOS: Tour of Paul George STEM Center in West Chester Township

“We are making the move because having our own space to call home has been the dream,” said Nichols, who greeted dozens of club supporters and curious public members who wanted to tour the new facility.

Started in 2011, the non-profit group — which is not affiliated with Lakota Schools — has been searching for a permanent home to accommodate its elementary and high school grade student members from nearly a dozen area districts, private schools and home school families who regularly meet to learn how to build and operate various types of robots for competition and fun.

“The Old West Chester Baptist Church became available and was within our means, so we jumped on it and purchased it,” he said.

Credit: Nick Graham

At 28,000 square feet, the new center is much larger than their previous 2,000-square-foot headquarters, which was on the grounds of the Boys & Girls Club of West Chester/Liberty in Olde West Chester.

Despite the club’s space limitations, its yearly average of about 40 members excelled in various local, state, regional and national robotics competitions over the years.

“But at our old facility the tight quarters made it difficult to retain all the students and keep them engaged,” said Nichols.

That’s all changed now, said an excited Lorelei Choate, a Lakota West High School senior who joined fellow club members to give the public tours of the new STEM Center.

Credit: Nick Graham

“It’s incredible the amount of space and now the amount of new opportunities we are able to create,” said the Liberty Twp. teen, who has been a club member for four years.

“We can now get in full-size machinery … as well as hosting more outreach programs” for younger students who use Lego toys and robotic components to build robots for learning and competition, said Choate.

Her mother, Amanda Choate, shared the opening day excitement, saying: “This means so much. There are so many opportunities for younger kids in STEM but once they hit high school there are not many (school-based) programs kids can find to be involved in.”

The larger space also left her smiling.

“It’s so nice to see the students not sitting on top of each other, sharing computers. Now they all have their own computers and they can actually learn so that’s really cool to see.”

MORE DETAILS

For more information on what the club offers and how to join — memberships are free — or how to make donations and fund sponsorships, go to the Paul George STEM Center at https://paulgeorgestemcenter.org.