Nashua, Windham, Phillips Exeter Students Advance To FIRST Tech World Championship After Concord Event

CONCORD, NH — The New Hampshire FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) State Championship took place on Feb. 21 at the New Hampshire Technical Institute, Concord's community college.

This annual event featured middle and high school students from across the region. Participants designed, built, programmed, and tested robots as part of the DECODE challenge. The challenge focused on critical STEM skills, including problem-solving, collaboration, and creativity. Teams were evaluated on their design process, innovation, outreach, and overall impact, in addition to match play. The event highlighted students' understanding of engineering principles, coding, strategy, and teamwork.

"The students who have advanced to this state championship are exceptional engineers," Dr. Patrick Tompkins, president of the college, said. "NHTI is proud to host such talent, and we encourage these students to continue their engineering journey — whether at NHTI or elsewhere."

Three New Hampshire teams will advance to the 2026 FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship. Avant-Garde (team 24018) from Nashua, VERTEX (team 15534) from Phillips Exeter Academy, and Banana Box (team 16169) from Windham will compete. The World Championship will be held in Houston, Texas, from April 29 to May 2, at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Additionally, three students from New Hampshire were named FIRST Leadership Award Finalists and will also attend the World Championship. Pranav Pakalapati from team 24353 Servo Breaker (Nashua), Jason Bottino from team 21689 Team Tesseract (Nashua), and Owen Osterberg from team 26532 Happy Haptic Doctors (Hanover) received this recognition. The FIRST Leadership Award acknowledges outstanding secondary school students for their leadership, entrepreneurship, and dedication to the mission of FIRST within their communities.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a global nonprofit organization. It aims to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders through mentor-based programs. FIRST New Hampshire Robotics is the state's official program delivery partner.