By: Angela Sheu and Linda Wang

News Editor and Humor Editor 

You can always count on senior Cole Massie, a friendly face at LGHS, for his extensive engineering knowledge and good-natured character. Through robotics, Key Club, and his academics, Massie works with others to bring designs to life and create a better community.

Massie started robotics as a middle school student through VEX Robotics, helping different teams with assembly and programming. Now, he plans to become an engineer and leads part of the LGHS FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team. As the Mechanical Director, Massie oversees all mechanical subteams, which include the electrical, machining, and computer-aided design (CAD) teams, as well as works with other team leads to plan projects and lay out curriculum. 

Throughout his time in robotics, Massie has developed a variety of different skills, including designing, fabricating, and assembling robot parts. He reflected, “I’ve spent a lot of time in the machine shop and also putting different things together which has given me a more hands-on role.” Of the many machines Massie has mastered, his favorite is the computer numerically controlled (CNC) mill, which cuts away metal to fabricate parts. He explained, “it’s a programmed mill, so I don’t have to do much of the work. I get to just watch it do its thing after I program it.” Last year, he used the CNC to create the metal grid forming the outside of the team’s competition robot, which became one of his favorite projects. 

As the robotics season approaches, Massie looks forward to seeing how the team grows. He remarked, “a lot of the seniors that I looked up to graduated and are now alumni, so I really want to see how we’ll continue without them and if we’ll maybe do even better this year.”

In addition to his robotics success, Massie actively participates in other parts of LGHS culture. As an avid member of Key Club, an international volunteer organization for high school students, Massie thoroughly enjoys volunteering and socializing with like-minded peers. Massie says “meet[ing] a bunch of different people and… [being] outside your shell” is his favorite part of the club. 

Apart from clubs, Massie looks forward to his LEAD classes in between the hustle of his other AP classes. “It’s not as academically straining,” he clarifies. “I’ve been with the same group of kids for the last four years, [so] it’s just great to be surrounded by people that I know for at least one period of the day.” To relax outside of academics, Massie turns to photography. Photography “is calming because I’m always on a screen all the time,” he explained. “It’s a way to get closer to nature.”

Be on the lookout for Massie around campus, working in the back rooms of the machine shop, or continuing to create cool things in his future as an engineer!