HPHS Robotics Team Qualifies For World Championship

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — Students from the Highland Park High School robotics team are headed to the world championship in Michigan after qualifying Sunday at the Illinois state championship tournament in Elgin.

The HPHS Robotics Club participates in the FIRST Tech Challenge, where teams of students build and program robots and take part in sports-style competitions. The organization is holding dual world championships, with Highland Park's team set to travel to the Cobo Center and Ford Field in Detoit April 29 to May 2 for the 2019 FIRST Championship.

The 12 members of Highland Park's Vertigo team — Joseph Beresheim, Daniel Bergman, Ben Cohen, Jackie Hirsch, Adam Kalman, Adam Kramer, Georgia Martinez, Hawk Peterson, Kurt Plonsker, Elliot Rubin, Kyle Slavin and Anais Zoub — were awarded the Inspire Award, given to the team that best embodies the challenge of the program on and off the field of play.

Judges considered match performance, interviews, the team's performance and engineering notebook to consider the winner as a role model FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) team, according to the state organization. The HPHS team also won a $1,000 award from the Illinois Alumni team as part of its legacy fund to aid operations.

The Illinois challenge included 194 teams, with the top 10 advancing to the world championships. Team Vertigo finished third in the the tournament and recorded the second highest score of the day, according to team officials.

"The FIRST Tech Challenge is more than robots," said robotics team coach Jonathan Weiland. "Teams can advance because of their outright performance, by being selected by their peers to be part of a winning alliance due to their camaraderie, professionalism, and sportsmanship, or by receiving one of the prestigious awards given by FIRST. I am incredibly proud of our team's performance but even more proud that they were the Inspire award winners, which acknowledges them for being ambassadors and role models for the program."

At last year's world championships, Vertigo was named as one of five finalists for The Rockwell Collins Innovate Award, celebrating teams that think "outside the box." It was the first time in seven years of competition a HPHS team has been recognized as a finalist for an award, according to the district.

Sponsored by Baxter International and Constellation Energy, the HPHS team has put together a season record of 27-7-0. After sweeping the Highland Park League Tournament with 9 wins and no losses, Vertigo went 6-4 at the state final, according to FIRST Illinois Robotics.