snellman
Footballguy
I didn't feel right clogging up the Athletic Accomplishments thread so I decided to start a new thread to celebrate the accomplishments of our non athletic kids (mine is too smart to be athletic, he thinks to much instead of just acting
He is built like an athlete, but too smart)
My son's school has 4 robotics teams. This is the 3rd year of the program and they went from 1 team in the first year, to 3 last year and 4 this year. It is with First Tech Challenge. I know one other Robotics is VEX, because that is what my daughter was involved in Minnesota and what she judges now that she is out of college. Here is a link to an over view of it FIRST Tech Challenge.
They finished 9 overall out of 24 teams for the season. This last weekend was the league championship. The top 9 teams get to go to the State competition. The top 4 teams get to pick their alliance which consists of 2 other teams and themselves which compete in a tournament that is best out of 3 matches. My son's team was picked by the #1 seed, but unfortunately got knocked out of the first round. One of the schools other 3 teams was the #2 seed, they picked the 2 remaining teams from my son's school and won the tournament which guarantees those 3 teams are going to state.
The teams are also judged on a number of factors, which have awards and are factored into a team getting to state. One of those awards is the Connect award, which is explained below:
I would love to hear more stories.

My son's school has 4 robotics teams. This is the 3rd year of the program and they went from 1 team in the first year, to 3 last year and 4 this year. It is with First Tech Challenge. I know one other Robotics is VEX, because that is what my daughter was involved in Minnesota and what she judges now that she is out of college. Here is a link to an over view of it FIRST Tech Challenge.
They finished 9 overall out of 24 teams for the season. This last weekend was the league championship. The top 9 teams get to go to the State competition. The top 4 teams get to pick their alliance which consists of 2 other teams and themselves which compete in a tournament that is best out of 3 matches. My son's team was picked by the #1 seed, but unfortunately got knocked out of the first round. One of the schools other 3 teams was the #2 seed, they picked the 2 remaining teams from my son's school and won the tournament which guarantees those 3 teams are going to state.
The teams are also judged on a number of factors, which have awards and are factored into a team getting to state. One of those awards is the Connect award, which is explained below:
My son's team got first for this award which is an automatic qualification for state. All 4 teams from my son's school made the state tournament in only the 3rd year of the program. It was a pretty proud moment and I am very thankful that despite being a relatively small school (435 students 9-12) they have programs like this for students that want to take part. Sorry for the long post, just trying to explain the robotics program as much as possible.Connecting the dots between community, FIRST, and the diversity of the engineering world. This judged award is given to the Team that most connects with their local science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) community. A true FIRST Team is more than a sum of its parts and recognizes that engaging their local STEM community plays an essential part in their success. The recipient of this award is recognized for helping the community understand FIRST, the FIRST Tech Challenge, and the Team itself. The Team that wins the Connect Award actively seeks and recruits engineers and explores the opportunities available in the world of engineering, science, and technology. This Team has a clear Team Plan and has identified steps to achieve their goals. Required Criteria for the Connect Award: • Team must show respect and Gracious Professionalism® to everyone they meet at a FIRST Tech Challenge event. • Team must submit an Engineering Portfolio. • Portfolio must include a Team Plan that covers the Team’s goals for the development of Team member skills, and the steps the Team has taken or will take to reach those goals. Examples of what the plan could include are timelines, outreach to science, engineering, and math communities, and training courses. • Portfolio must include a summary of how the Team acquired new mentors or acquired new knowledge and expertise from a mentor. Working with mentors from FIRST’s Mentor Matching site is an acceptable way to learn from mentors. Strongly Suggested Criteria for the Connect Award: • Team provides clear examples of developing in person or virtual connections with individuals in the engineering, science, or technology community. • Team actively engages with the engineering community to help them understand FIRST, the FIRST Tech Challenge, and the Team itself. • The Team should refer to the Award Definitions for judging outlined in Appendix F for outreach and be able to provide supporting documentation to the judges, where applicable.
I would love to hear more stories.