FIRST STRONGHOLD Season Wrap-Up

We've been hard at work since August preparing the team for this year's challenge. August through December was spent training and learning engineering, safety and outreach skills. January and February brought the STRONGHOLD game reveal and Build Season, followed by a rigorous, whirlwind competition schedule in March and April. As only a 3-year old team, our very first trip to the FIRST Robotics World Championship in St. Louis at the end of April was the experience of a lifetime.

As a result of hard work and diligence, our team garnered a spot on the Curie field at Worlds. Getting there was a long journey, and through our participation in 3 Events we earned:

Qualifier 1: Dalton, GA
    District Engineering Inspiration Award
    Industrial Safety Award sponsored by Underwriters Laboratories
    District Event Winner

Qualifier 2: Kennesaw, GA

    Industrial Design Award sponsored by General Motors

Peachtree Region State Championship: Athens, GA

    Regional Engineering Inspiration Award
    Regional Championship Winner

What's especially gratifying about these accomplishments, is that we earned a slot at Worlds in TWO separate ways this year. Our accomplishments at the State Championship (Event Winner and Engineering Inspiration) each qualified us for a trip to the World fields.

We just returned from the World Championship in St. Louis and it was both an enriching and empowering experience. The official books will show our record as 3-6-1 for our team at the end of the World competition, but numbers don't begin to tell the whole story of our team's accomplishments in St. Louis. Our experience can't be quantified with numbers or statistics, but it can be described by the other things we came home with: new ideas, reignited excitement, stronger commitment, new alliances and friendships, an expanded realm of engineering possibilities, and a bigger vision for the future - and this is only the beginning.

As our season draws to a close, reflecting back on the entire year we see enormous growth in the team as a whole and in the individual students. The kids have evolved from just being students with a passion for robotics into young adults who have a passion for robotics and a better idea of how to work as a team, how to interact with professionals, and how to implement problem solving skills in real-life situations. Their STEAM skills have also increased - our students understand the design process, can use tools to build things, know how to work with metal, know how to develop electrical wiring diagrams and successfully power a robot, design programs that make a machine "see" and move the way we want it, create CAD drawings for use in waterjet part fabrication, develop and deliver multi-media presentations in front of professionals, talk to adults and kids of all ages about FIRST and STEAM, and much, much more. Numbers in a book don't begin to do these accomplishments justice. Worlds was the triumphant capstone of this season's incredible journey, as well as the foundation/building block for next year.

We have not only made a positive impact on the lives of our students, but countless thousands of other students and adults through our outreach efforts and by spreading news and awareness for STEAM and the limitless possibilities it holds. Only through the unwavering support of the team parents, mentors, sponsors and community was this possible. The East Cobb Robotics Team is sincerely grateful to everyone who is helping us make a difference.

Deep appreciation goes to our corporate and community sponsors: GE, Automated Logic, United Technologies, Lockheed Martin, Best Buy, NASA, Branch Properties, Stanley Black & Decker, PTC, Epson, J Wood Metal Art, Edhesive, Howe Roofs, CLC Work Gear, Cobb EMC, Rotary Club of East Cobb, Kroger, East Penn Manufacturing Co., Chick-fil-A Lassiter, Honeywell Safety Products, Papa John's Pizza, Kennesaw State University, Novelis, Alpha Omega Health Center and Georgia FIRST Robotics . Thank you for helping to make our STEAM dreams come true.

We hope you will all join us next year as we continue our journey of changing lives and improving the future.