Robots Rejoice: R4 Creating holds grand opening

RIO RANCHO — Home is where your robot family is.

That home, for R4 Creating, is now officially next to Defined Pickleball in Rio Rancho’s Hilltop Plaza.

“How amazing is this? Can’T you just feel it?” owner and founder Dr. Shelly Gruenig asked a crowd of public officials, business owners and most importantly kids on Nov. 12.

She was standing in a space that at one point was a fixer-upper in need of new everything, was full of boxes and full of potential. Now, the completely renewed space has areas for robotics shenanigans, storage, construction and more. Sharing the space is Creative Crossroads, who will host plays and performances there.

Having the permanent space was a long-time dream for Gruenig.

“It’s truly a celebration of a place where every child belongs. There is a space for every child here at R4 creating,” she said.

But that dream really started when Gruenig herself was a child and won a science fair by raising chickens.

“Those days when I went to pursue more science and tech and to look for mentors and support in that, I was told that, ‘Girls don’t do science. You can maybe be a science teacher.’ But forget it if you want to be a computer programmer or raise chickens and study science,” she said.

She said it started her dream of finding a place where people are allowed to dream. The dream started to become a reality

“I was scrolling trying to find something that would capture the interest of my 12-year-old son, and I stumbled across this robotics competition, and I thought, ‘I know how to use a power tool. I could — we could do this. This could be fun. So, we went into it with one year in mind, and 20 years later, we are still here,” she said.

There are a lot of benefits R4 brings to the community, including boosting the economy when competitions happen and partnering with several schools in the area, according to Gruenig. But the largest benefit is the impact it has on students, as she explained with a story.

“We were up in Cuba, New Mexico just two summers ago, and on the end day of camp, all the girls in the girls-only camp were gonna run a STEM festival,” she said. “At 9 a.m., this elderly woman was sitting outside the gymnasium. So, I said, ‘How can I help you? We don’t start till noon.’ She said, ‘Oh, I know, but I needed to come meet the people who changed the life of my great-great-granddaughter.’ She said, ‘Her mother, her grandmother had both fallen victim to drug use, and I have raised her, and she’s hated every day of school. But for some reason, in the past week, every night she’s come home so excited to tell me about what she’s learning, and I had to come here.’”

The impact was also seen at the opening on all the smiling faces of kids that participated in R4’s program.

Autumn Solecki, a teen who was part of R4’s winning state robotics team, had her own impact to share at the opening. She got her start at an engineering camp in 2018. Then in 2019 she joined a team at R4.

“I’ve gone from being one of the youngest members on the team to one of the team presidents,” she said.

She added that there is something for all ages at R4.

“Our teams give presentations and we participate in interviews with judges. In 2020, I did not want to do it at all, and everyone was, like, ‘Autumn, you would be really good at it.’ ‘No, I don’t want to do it. I’m never doing it, ever. It’s too scary. I’ll be terrible, and I’ll ruin this whole team and we’ll lose.’ So, my mentor, she’s like, ‘Autumn, if you do it, I’ll buy you Sour Patch Kids.’ Once I did it, I absolutely loved it,” she said.

She added that the support she gets from mentors and friends was important, too.

“I realized that I want to learn new things, not because I’m being bribed with Sour Patch Kids, but because I know that it’s gonna turn me into a better person,” she said.

Alumni and Gruenig’s daughter, McKenzie Walzer, also talked about the benefits of R4. She said she landed a job before graduating college because of those benefits.

“I truly believe it was my shortcut, and I know a lot of my hard-core friends aren’t here today, but I promise you, it’s because they’re out doing really, really cool stuff,” she said.

Gruenig thanked many people for helping her reach the goal of having her own space, including former District 44 Rep. Jane Powdrell-Culbert, who put capital outlay money toward R4 in its early days.

Several people showed up to support the opening, including the Rio Rancho Regional Chamber of Commerce, Comcast, Sandoval County Commissioners Jordan Juarez and Jon Herr, and Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull.

Comcast, which is a partner to R4, also awarded the nonprofit with a $30,000 check.

The group also heard from volunteer Jake Deuel and board member Doug Campbell.

The event ended with a ribbon cutting in front of the new space.