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4-H Robotics Team Qualifies for World Championship

Posted by fuller | January 11, 2017

Great things are happening with an exciting team of curious and creative students and adults at Shelton High School! The 4-H Robotics Team 5295 Aldernating Current has been planning and building in order to meet the challenge set forth in this year’s FIRST Robotics challenge Steamworks. Recent district competitions in Mt. Vernon and Auburn qualified the team to qualify for the PNW Championships which were held at Eastern Washington University April 6-8. This small town team finished 8 out of 64 teams qualifying them to compete at the FIRST World Championship April 19-23 in Houston, Texas. View the highlight video of the exciting PNW Championship event. World Championship update….Competing as 4-H FRC Team 5295 “Aldernating Current”, the Shelton High Robotics Team partnered with teams from China, Israel, Turkey and USA during the Newton Division qualification rounds and finished ranked 16th of 67 teams at the Houston FIRST Robotics World Championship April 20-22. This placed them in the top 5.6% of the 3400 teams competing in 2017. In 2016 the Shelton team finished near last at competitions. Watch matches at https://www.thebluealliance.com/team/5295. The team lost in the Newton quarterfinals to the #1 playoff alliance led by local NASA Team 118 “Robonauts”, which finished 2nd overall in the 400 team competition. Combining the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology FIRST Robotics Competition is the ultimate Sport for the Mind. High-school student participants call it “the hardest fun you’ll ever have.” Under strict rules, limited resources, and an intense six-week time limit, teams of students are challenged to raise funds, design a team “brand,” hone teamwork skills, and build and program industrial-size robots to play a difficult field game against like-minded competitors. It’s as close to real-world engineering as a student can get. Volunteer professional mentors lend their time and talents to guide each team. If you or someone you know may be interested in learning more about this exciting opportunity contact alanwalker@earthlink.net. Check out this exciting video that explains this year’s challenge. You may also visit the FIRST Robotics website to learn about FIRST Robotics, the impact that this program is having on youth across our country, and other basic information.

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