Please join me in celebrating the JV Robotics teams who competed this past Saturday. FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) team 5270 consisting of Casey Cervenka ’21, Ethan Chou ’22, Alex Dietrich ’22, Alekh Palakurthi ’22, Casey Powell ’22, Price Taylor ’22, and Vinith Upadhya ’22 started the morning furiously trying to downsize their robot as it wasn’t within specifications. They missed their first (of five) matches because of this, but never hung their heads nor grumbled, instead working hard to fix it to play in their final four matches. Because of their enthusiasm, graciousness, and grit, they received the Motivate Award at day’s end.

I also tip my hat to them for their leadership and grace in helping and cheering on the freshmen team FTC 12010, made up of Harrison Coman ’23, Andrew Epperson ’23, Rohen Giralt ’23, Brennan Hugo ’23, Vikram Kommareddi ’23, Jay Sihm ’23, Rhoda Yakowenko ’21, and Leo Yu ’21. Attending their first tournament ever, they made quite an impact, at one point holding a #3 ranking of the 26 teams in attendance. They were selected to be on the second-seeded alliance, and in the semi-finals, their alliance beat the third alliance in three matches to reach the finals. In the finals, they were matched against a formidable number 1 seed. Good driving, teamwork, and coolness under pressure combined with a couple of mistakes by their opponents lead to our alliance besting the first seed, again in matches. Congratulations to 12010 for winning their first-ever tournament! And another kudos to 5270 for leading the way.

The teams will compete again when Cary Academy hosts their next tournament. Mark your calendars for Saturday, February 8, from 10:45am-5:00pm so you can come cheer on Team Q (5270) and the ChargerBots (12010) as they look to qualify for the state tournament.

by Betsy MacDonald – US Design, Programming, and Robotics