Lancaster High School’s Robotics Team, Kinetic Storm (FTC #12838), is heading to the FIRST Chesapeake Regional Championship in Severn, Maryland on February 11 to participate in the FIRST Technical Challenge competition with the top teams from Virginia, D.C., and Maryland. Winners at the Regional Championship will qualify to compete in the FIRST World Championship in Houston, Texas in April.
At the Qualifying Tournament in Harrisonburg, Virginia on January 21, Lancaster’s robot finished with the 9th highest score out of 37 teams, which allowed them to compete in the Semifinals as well. According to Shelia Chewning, one of the coaches, “During competition, teams are randomly paired with five other teams for matches throughout the day, forcing students to rapidly strategize with alliance partners they have just met. Four teams participate in each match, with alliance partners earning a combined score during the match. Thus a team’s cumulative score over the five matches can be affected positively or negatively depending on the performance of their alliance partners. As a result, a team’s final score is not the only determining factor for advancement. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) also uses a series of awards to determine advancement as well.”
Lancaster Kinetic Storm received the First Place Motivate Award, for encouraging others to pursue STEM opportunities and for educating others about robotics. They also earned the Second Place Inspire Award, which is the one that qualified them to advance to the next level. Katherine Bavuso, the other coach, said “The Inspire Award is the highest award and is given to role model teams who inspire others and embody the goals of FIRST. To win an Inspire Award, the team has to be a top contender in all six of the other award categories: Think, Connect, Innovate, Control, Motivate, and Design. We are so proud of the progress our team has made this year!”