The Wicomico team competing in the Chesapeake Regional First Robotics Competition in Baltimore earlier this month won two of the three rookie awards and qualified to advance to the National Championships in Atlanta April 15-17.
Competing in its rookie season, the StrikeForce team from Wicomico had just four weeks (because of winter weather) to build a robot that could play soccer. During the competition at the Baltimore Convention Center March 11-13, the team from Parkside High School CTE, with one student from Stephen Decatur High School, competed in 11 matches against 50 robotics teams from 10 different states. The team’s final record was 5-2-4. The team, at one point in the competition ranked 48th out of 50, fought back to finish 28th.
The team was honored as Highest Rookie Seed, given to the highest-ranking rookie team at the conclusion of all competition matches. The team also received the Rookie AllStar Award, which qualifies the team to attend the National Championships in Atlanta. This award is based on overall performance on the field and off. Judges were constantly observing teams in the pit area for such factors as teamwork, enthusiasm, student performance and behavior, robot design, and safety. Students were constantly pulled aside by judges for interviews.
The team will be raising money to fund the trip to Atlanta. For information please contact Parkside CTE at 410-677-5144, e-mail Dave Miles at damiles@wcboe.org, or visit the team’s web site at http://3389.esrteams.org/.
StrikeForce team members are Alex Gonzalez, 12th-grade team captain; Brandon Russ, pit crew captain; Unique Boston and Nick Cook, 11th-grade team co-captains; Michelle Caldwell, 12th grade, and Ravaughn Nicols, 11th grade, safety managers; and Kenneth Rumbley, Cristian Salem, Chris Littleton, Sean Irwin, Chris Beach, Jake Jones, Sam Banks, Matt Duncan and Adam Chance. Austin Kosin of Stephen Decatur High School is also a team member. Coaches are Dave Miles, Electronics instructor; Steve Jenkins, High Performance Manufacturing instructor; Jenny Miles, instructional assistant for Special Education, and Michele Kosin, a substitute teacher from Worcester County, with industry support from MaTech Inc. of Salisbury.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
3 comments:
wait a minute, what about the other kids who didn't get awards? what's that gonna do to their self esteem? Now they are gonaing to feel like losers! We can't have that. Wait till the left hears about this! I'm calling pelosi right now!
this really puts a smile on my face!! Way to go team!!
the sad part is that more people will not care and are more excited about a high school football state championship. The difference is that this lasts a lifetime and actually impacts their furture carer, while football ends after high school for some and after college for the rest.
Thanks for posting Joe, we need these kind of success stories.
FIRST Robotics is the best thing to come to eastern shore high school students in the past few years. StrikeForce is one of three Eastern Shore Robotics teams, and they really did great!
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