10/30/2026
📣Sometimes you take a picture and don't realize you're photographing the future.
This summer, we came to After 6 on Kercheval to do something our students have done so many times before: bring robotics out into the community.
We set up our pit. We brought the robots. Kids stopped to see and play with them in action. We talked about robotics, STEM, and what our students were building.
And we took pictures.
At the time, they were simply pictures from another community outreach event.
𝗡𝗼𝘄 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝘀.
See it?
𝗙𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗢𝗟.
We didn't know it then, but we were standing directly outside what would become part of the new home of the 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 & 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 (𝗚𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗖)!!!!!
GPRIC is establishing its new robotics center on Kercheval in the spaces currently occupied by Festool and the adjoining Kercheval Cupboards.
And somehow, months before we knew where our robotics center would be, we were already doing its work on the sidewalk outside its future front door.
Thanks to Senator Kevin Hertel, now we get to bring the robots inside.
For years, our students and local robotics teams have needed something deceptively simple: 𝗦𝗣𝗔𝗖𝗘.
A place to build.
A place to program.
A place to practice.
A place to design and fabricate.
A place to store equipment and tools.
A place to plan.
A place to market.
A place to fundraise.
A place to lead.
A place for mentors to teach.
A place for teams to work together.
A place for kids to discover robotics, get involved, and find where they belong.
Our planning with local robotics teams identified those same needs: practice space, build space, storage, tools, mentor support, workshops, and opportunities to collaborate.
And now, we finally have a place to begin.
There's something else we want our Grosse Pointe community to know:
👉 𝗣𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲!
Our space is in the Festool and Kercheval Cupboards portions of this connected group of buildings. GPRIC and Pointe Hardware will each maintain their own identity and operations, while the physical connection between the spaces creates some pretty exciting possibilities for the future.
But that's a story for another day.
Today, we're celebrating this one.
This isn't the grand opening of a finished robotics center.
There are walls to prepare. Equipment to acquire. Programs to develop. Procedures to put in place. And plenty of work ahead of us.
This is the beginning.
It's the moment when something we've talked about, planned for, searched for, and worked toward finally has an address.
And every time we look at these pictures now, we can't get over it.
Our students were already there.
The robots were already there.
The community was already there.
We just didn't know yet that someday we'd get to open the door behind us and go inside.
𝗪𝗘 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗔 𝗛𝗢𝗠𝗘.
𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗪𝗘 𝗕𝗨𝗜𝗟𝗗. 🤖💛🖤
