On February 10, robotics teams from Alcove Trails Middle School, Frenship Middle School, Heritage Middle School, and Terra Vista Middle School geared up and went head-to-head with other teams of 7th-12th graders in the League Championship hosted at Lubbock-Cooper Middle School.
The Frenship teams have been practicing for months, designing, building, and programing their robots powered by android technology to compete in an alliance format. Teams must navigate their robot autonomously and player-controlled to score points.
At the conclusion of the League Championship, all four middle schools represented Frenship well. Frenship students brought home the top three places for the Motivate Award, including Heritage in 1st place, Alcove Trails in 2nd place, and Terra Vista in 3rd place. “As part of their community outreach, Heritage students attended STEAM night at Legacy Elementary and volunteered at Frenship’s Robotics Camp for elementary students over the summer. Their motivation and inspiration to younger generations helped the team secure the award,” said Dustin Thomas, HMS Robotics Coach.
“The Terra Vista teams had a great season and came together to overcome many obstacles but shined through the entire season. They always showed up with a smile on their faces eager to work together,” added Danielle Dodson, Terra Vista Robotics Coach.
In addition to the 2nd place Motivate Award, Alcove Trails students also brought home the 2nd place Connect Award. This award celebrates teams that represent the essence of the FTC competition through gracious professionalism and enthusiasm for the overall philosophy of FTC.
While it’s only Frenship Middle School’s second season to compete in FTC, one of their teams placed in the top 10 and made into the final stage. “This was a very impressive thing for a middle school group because normally only the high school groups competing get picked to participate in the final round of the tournament,” said Molly Brown, FMS Robotics Coach. “From our wheels falling off to our claws malfunctioning in the middle of a match, we didn't let that stop us from trying our hardest.”
Heritage Middle School’s 19738 TI Robo Tigers w/Fr3d team took home the 1st place Motivate Award and are the lone Frenship team to advance to the Area Championship on February 17. In addition to practicing all week to fine tune their skills, the students are also creating buttons to hand out to other teams as part of FTC’s motto, “gracious professionalism” to encourage, value, and respect others in the community.
“I am so proud of all our teams and their perseverance and hard work throughout the whole season. FTC takes a lot of trial and error and tenacity,” said HMS Robotics Coach Kim Thomson. “The growth made from errors, failed designs, and then to see the same team win at competition is awesome! To observe the engineering process at work daily with our students is so cool to witness.”
The Area Championship will be hosted at Liberty High School from 8a.m. to 3p.m. The competition is free and open to the public. Students interested in joining robotics are encouraged to attend to learn more about FTC.