Saturday, March 24, 2012

Huge win, on to St. Louis . . .

Our Robotics Team, Bear Metal, dominated the regional competition over the last two days and is now headed to the national competition in St. Louis.  I was so impressed this morning as they went round after round undefeated.  Marcie Maxwell, State Representative from t he 41st districtcame up to me and  shared how everyone was talking about the team from Tahoma.  The kids and their adult mentors did an incredible job creating the robot, operating it, and forming an alliance that contributed to their success in the finals. 

You can see in the chart below how dominating they were, losing only one round in the tournament.  Tahoma is Team 2046, First Place.  You can learn more about the competition at the FIRST Robotics site here.


The competition required the robots to shoot and make baskets with small basketballs as well as being able to balance with other alliance robots.  The picture below is our team practicing the balancing maneuver with two other robots.  I think there was also some negotiating taking place to form a winning team for the finals.


The team took first place and also won multiple awards including the most prestigious award in FIRST, the Chairman's Award.

Overview



The Chairman’s Award was created to keep the central focus of the FIRST Robotics
Competition as our ultimate goal for transforming the culture in ways that will inspire greater
levels of respect and honor for science and technology, as well as encourage more of today’s
youth to become scientists, engineers, and technologists.


The Chairman’s Award represents the spirit of FIRST. It honors the team that, in the judges’
estimation, best represents a model for other teams to emulate, and which embodies the goals
and purpose of FIRST. It remains FIRST’s most prestigious award.
 
On Friday, one of the mentors, Eric VanBuren, was awarded the Woodie Flowers Award for Regional mentor of the year.  He was nominated by the students for this award and is pictured below.
 
 
Another highlight of the event was the music from members of our drum line.  They came to support Bear Metal and did it in style.
 

1 comment:

Jonathan said...

Awesome! The Robotics Team has learned so many 21st century skills, as represented in the Chairman's Award, on their way to the regional championship. Another example of the incredible students in our district, as well as those who support them. Go Bears!