All-Female Robotics Team From Morristown Competes In First Competition

MORRISTOWN, NJ — Villa Walsh Academy's all-female robotics team, Sisters 1st, competed in their first-ever global FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition in April.

During the competition, the Sisters 1st team advanced to the championship round and won the tournament. Villa Walsh also won the Rookie-All-Star and Rookie-Highest Seed awards, allowing them to compete in the District Championship, where they won the Rookie-All-Star and Rookie-Highest Seed awards.

“These high schoolers are determined, focused, and inspired by some fantastic teachers and mentors. They don’t know the word ‘can’t,’ and their ability to work under pressure is proven," Senator Anthony M. Bucco said.

The state's first all-female FRC team, Villa Walsh's Sisters 1st, was created in November 2020 with plans to compete in the FIRST Robotics Competition in the spring, but the pandemic intervened, and the season was not launched until April of this year.

Lee Anne Nugent, the team's Head Coach and a math teacher at Villa Walsh, stated that the club provided students with an outlet to help others by designing a robot concept to assist COVID-19 patients.

“Ironically, launching a team during the pandemic was beneficial for Villa Walsh. The majority of activities and athletics were canceled,” Nugent said. “And, through one of the central missions of our school, helping those in need, the students became passionate about the field of robotics."

Sisters 1st currently has 52 students in the program, which is more than a quarter of the student body, according to Nugent.

Nugent stated that the goal from the start was to create a supportive group to encourage young women to expand their horizons. “FIRST is ‘More than Robots’,” Nugent said. “Through our opportunity with FIRST we want to generate more interest and support for females in STEM. There is a world of opportunity for young women, and they should know about their options.”

Following their victory, the Sisters 1st are preparing for what comes next."We have already begun to train for the next season, we are planning on moving to a new workspace, so we have to build a lab – this year, we worked in a hallway," Nugent said.

"I am so proud of these young women – they are courageous, fearless, and eager to learn! They like to call themselves the “Dream Team” as we were told that it was impossible to qualify to attend the District Championship – we did that and then qualified to go to Worlds," Nugent said.

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