Rockwall-Heath Black Hawk Robotics wins Rock City Regional, Chairman’s Award

(HEATH, TX — March 27, 2017) For the sixth year in a row, The Black Hawk Robotics team qualified for the First Robotics Competition world championship. The Rockwall-Heath High School robotics team won the Rock City Regional and the Chairman’s Award in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Saturday, March 11.

FIRST is a global organization created to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders through after school robotics programs and competitions. Each year teams design a robot that can complete a specific set of tasks. This year’s game demands a robot that can shoot plastic balls into high and low goals, place gears to activate rotors and climb a rope to an airship control center.

Over the three-day regional, the team competed with 51 other teams from around the United States and Mexico. After nine qualifying matches, the team was undefeated and ranked first. This ranking allowed the team to have the first pick in team alliance selections. After extensive scouting of every team in the competition, the Black Hawks allied with team 16, Bomb Squad from Mountain Home, Ark., and team 3991, KnightVision, from Baton Rouge, La.

“These three teams created a strong alliance because they worked well together and made up for each other’s shortcomings,” said Black Hawks’ team mentor Paul Copioli. “It was rewarding to see all our hard work scouting pay off when we selected a successful alliance.”

“It feels great to win after six intense weeks of designing and building the robot,” said team co-captain Madison Drake. “A lot of work goes on behind the scenes to make this possible. We couldn’t do this without the help of our sponsors and mentors and all the hard work of our sub teams year after year.”

The team also received the Chairman’s Award. This award is the most prestigious award in FIRST: it honors the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the purpose and goals of FIRST. To compete for the Chairman’s Award, the team submitted an essay outlining their contributions to the community and presented to a panel of judges at the tournament.

“As a member of the Chairman’s team it’s an honor to represent my teammates and promote the work they’re doing in our community,” said Kamrey Mantz. “Black Hawk Robotics team members volunteer with younger robotics teams, host robotics tournaments, and advocate at the state and national level for STEM education.”

The 2017 FIRST World Championships for the first time will be hosted in two locations, due to growth of the program: April 19-22 in Houston, Texas, and April 26-29 in St. Louis, Missouri.

Prior to the world championships the Black Hawks will compete again at the Brazos Valley regional in Waco, Texas, on March 31- April 2.

Leslie Reese, team coach and RISD teacher said, “I’m very proud of this group of students. Every year we are improving our design skills, teamwork and communication. I can’t wait to see what we do at the world championship.”

Submitted press release.

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