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Chatham Cougars "Inspire" and Advance to State Championship
Chatham High School Robotics Team compete at the FIRST Tech Challenge and advance onto the State Championship
The Chatham Cougars won the "Inspire Award" on Sunday at Livingston High to earn a spot in the FIRST Tech Challenge Garden State Rumble Championship set for Feb. 26, 2017.
The sixth annual FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) Robo-Joust State Qualifier was held at Livingston High School on Sunday, with 36 teams competing to advance to the FTC Garden State Rumble Championship.
Two teams, the Chatham Cougars and //Cougars were competing from Julianna Ryan's Chatham High School’s Advanced Robotics class. In class, these 17 students make up two teams who are working together to brainstorm, design, and create a working robot which can complete a variety of tasks and goals through the FTC Velocity Vortex 2016-2017 game challenge.
These students have been working tirelessly, often working through lunch and for many after school each day to go to the Robo-Joust Qualifier ready to dominate. The Chatham Cougars had a few programming setbacks as the day progressed, but after a very promising interview with the judges and a very well documented Engineering Notebook, the team felt confident about their performance. //Cougars had more success as the day progressed on the competition floor which helped them to advance to the semi-finals, only to be defeated in the best of three matches against the third-place team.
After nine hours of competition, teams from across northern New Jersey waited to hear who would take home the awards given by the judges for a variety of different criteria. Chatham Cougars were elated when their hard work paid off; the team walked away with the Motivate Award. This award is given to the team who exemplifies the essence of the FIRST Tech Challenge through their team building, team spirit, and enthusiasm.
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The team is recognized for successfully demonstrating recruitment of new teams, mentors, and volunteers. As the excitement pulsed through the Chatham Cougars they were also nominated for the highest award given by FTC, the Inspire Award, which advanced the team onto the Garden State Rumble Championship!
The Inspire Award is only given to a team who is a top contender for many of the judged awards which involve their business plan, engineering process, programming, and ability to properly document their process in their engineering notebook. Teams that win this award are often very experienced teams and programs which makes this achievement for the Chatham Cougars even greater as they are only halfway through their second year competing in the FIRST Tech Challenge!
