Collegiate Ships Robot to St. Louis for World Championship
Collegiate is excited to be among several area teams invited to the 2016 FIRST Robotics Championship in St. Louis later this month, and more specifically, to be the first rookie team from the Central Virginia region in recent history to travel to the global event.
Students in Lower, Middle and Upper School gathered in front of McFall Hall this morning for a brief pep rally to celebrate this achievement with members of the Collegiate 2016 FIRST robotics team - TORCH 5804 - and to sign and decorate the crate containing Collegiate's robot, before FedEx arrived to collect it.
Students in Lower, Middle and Upper School gathered in front of McFall Hall this morning for a brief pep rally to celebrate this achievement with members of the Collegiate 2016 FIRST robotics team - TORCH 5804 - and to sign and decorate the crate containing Collegiate's robot, before FedEx arrived to collect it.
The world championship will be held in St. Louis on April 27-30; however, in order for the robot to arrive in time, it had to be shipped today.
"People ask me if I ever thought this would happen in my wildest dreams; I tell them this is my wildest dream," Daniel Bartels, Collegiate's Middle School and Upper School STEAM Coordinator said during the gathering. Mr. Bartels, along with Upper School science teacher Greg Sesny, is coaching the robotics team.
Collegiate's team is currently ranked 8th out of 132 teams in the district.
In its inaugural year, the team has received two rookie awards, and on April 9, placed 1st in the Chesapeake District Championship competition, as part of a three-team alliance that included a school from northern Virginia and a group of schools from the St. Mary's County, Md. area.
Collegiate's student body and teachers have been thrilled to watch the team do so well in the first year of competition, and many have spent their weekends watching TORCH 5804 compete, via a livestream that FIRST Robotics has provided. The School looks forward to cheering the team to a respectable showing in St. Louis in a few weeks.
"I'm still awestruck myself - a rookie team doing this. This is actually unprecedented," said Mr. Bartels, who has helped launch robotics teams at several Hanover County high schools and for Code VA. "It's about the kids experiencing things and capitalizing on this opportunity."
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"People ask me if I ever thought this would happen in my wildest dreams; I tell them this is my wildest dream," Daniel Bartels, Collegiate's Middle School and Upper School STEAM Coordinator said during the gathering. Mr. Bartels, along with Upper School science teacher Greg Sesny, is coaching the robotics team.
Collegiate's team is currently ranked 8th out of 132 teams in the district.
In its inaugural year, the team has received two rookie awards, and on April 9, placed 1st in the Chesapeake District Championship competition, as part of a three-team alliance that included a school from northern Virginia and a group of schools from the St. Mary's County, Md. area.
Collegiate's student body and teachers have been thrilled to watch the team do so well in the first year of competition, and many have spent their weekends watching TORCH 5804 compete, via a livestream that FIRST Robotics has provided. The School looks forward to cheering the team to a respectable showing in St. Louis in a few weeks.
"I'm still awestruck myself - a rookie team doing this. This is actually unprecedented," said Mr. Bartels, who has helped launch robotics teams at several Hanover County high schools and for Code VA. "It's about the kids experiencing things and capitalizing on this opportunity."
Today, Mr. Bartels promised a throng of excited Junior Kindergartners that Collegiate's robotics program will be even stronger by the time they reach Middle and Upper School. They cheered with glee.
(FYI: FIRST in the FIRST Robotics designation means For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. The FIRST Robotics Championship is the final and largest event of the FRC season, and last year, more than 600 teams around the globe participated.)
(FYI: FIRST in the FIRST Robotics designation means For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. The FIRST Robotics Championship is the final and largest event of the FRC season, and last year, more than 600 teams around the globe participated.)
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