When Lynn Fujioka started the first-ever robotics club at Kalakaua Middle School in September, 60 kids signed up.

The response was overwhelming.

It was also welcome.

"These kids, especially in Kalihi Valley, are in a lower economic community. They don't have the kinds of labs, maybe even the kinds of teachers who can expose them to these activities," said Fujioka, founder and president of Isis Hawai'i, a group trying to bring more technology into classrooms. "This raises the bar for them. They can shine."

In December, the club went on to win top honors in the research division at the 2006 First Lego League Championship in Hawai'i.

And eighth-grader Sherina Ignacio, one of the stars of the Kalakaua team, volunteered as a peer mentor for the Moanalua Middle School robotics club, which won the overall award at the championship.

Fujioka said Moanalua was strong in their engineering component, but needed help on presenting their research for the national competition.

On Friday, Ignacio and her teammates were honored for their efforts at a school assembly and encouraged to pursue their dreams. Ignacio said she plans to do just that.

"I want to be an animatronics engineer," she said, referring to the field used to animate puppets, usually for movies or theme parks. "The robotics club really made me more interested in trying to further my career goals."

When Ignacio graduates from Kalakaua in June, she will go on to Farrington High School and join its new robotics club. Fujioka started that club, too. She said the programs cost about $3,000 each annually.

For Fujioka, having robotics in schools — especially those in lower-income areas — is just common sense. "It is having these kids exposed to these opportunities," she said. And it's getting them interested in math and science, without handing them a pencil, paper and calculator.

Instead, they're learning computer programming and engineering while constructing a robot and making it do what they want it to do.

Part of Fujioka's program is getting students to think about college.

So she has paired up engineering students with those in the Farrington High School robotics club, and also sent them to speak at Kalakaua.

She has also enlisted the help of engineering professors, sending them to Kalakaua and Farrington to talk about the world of robotics.

"Kalakaua Middle School has never been exposed to any sort of formal robotics program," she said. Now, Fujioka is already planning for next year.

Kalakaua students are, too.

Fujioka said students are already asking her when they can sign up for another year of the robotics club.

Reach Mary Vorsino at mvorsino@honoluluadvertiser.com.