Westminster Christian Academy's FIRST Robotics Team competed in the semi-finals at the Chaifetz Arena on Saturday and was awarded the highest award possible for a rookie team: The Rookie All-Star Team. They now are eligible to compete in the World Championships held in St. Louis this April. Westminster was one of 13 rookie teams from the St. Louis area.
For the past several months, the Westminster Christian Acadmy’s FIRST Robotics team has been designing and building a robot in anticipation of the three-day St. Louis regional competition at Chaifetz Arena March 22-24.
FIRST seeks to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership. This year’s robotics competition game, “Rebound Rumble,” required teams to build a basketball-type-game-playing robot that formed an alliance with two other teams’ robots in a three-on-three game of shooting hoops.
Team mentor and Westminster teacher Lisa Harding says she couldn’t be more proud of this team and their outstanding work. “Every one of these students would tell you that they have accomplished more than they would have ever thought possible,” says Harding. “Thinking about all of the robot’s capabilities, they just shake their heads and say, ‘I can’t believe we built that.’ With outstanding leadership and technical advice from our Boeing engineer mentors, our rookie team was able to design and build a robot that can do absolutely everything that the competition requires. The dedication of our students, parents, and mentors just amazes me!”
The school is grateful for a grant from the Boeing Company that made participation in the FIRST Robotics Competition possible.