Heroes' Welcome Home for Southold Robotics Team Returning From World Championships

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SOUTHOLD, NY - Firetrucks and police cars, lights flashing and horns honking, led the way as the bus pulled up to Southold High School Sunday, where parents were clapping and cheering for the Southold robotics team, returning from the 2016 FIRST Robotics World Championship.

It was a heroes' welcome for the kids, who emerged from the bus proud and exhilarated.

Southold School Superintendent David Gamberg was cheering along with the crowd. "I feel honored to be a part of it in some small way. What incredible commitment and dedication by so many," he said.

The team was chosen by the top eight teams for the third seed alliance out of 75 teams and made it to the quarter finals.

Abby Cacacovic, a junior who has been on the team since freshman year, said the experience was "amazing," and that she and her teammates were so close, having been together working tirelessly since January.

According to Christine Schade, co-advisor along with Bob Gammon, Southold's Team RICE 870 first participated in the School Business Partners of Long Island semi-finals event at Hofstra University, where they placed second.

The team was the runner up but won the Engineering Inspiration Award, which means they won their way to nationals, which took place this weekend in St. Louis, she said. The team's registration was paid for through NASA.

"We're the little school that could," said parent Cathy Riley.

This weekend, the kids participated with 640 teams.

Gammon said the students learned so much about perseverance and hard work. "We did our job," he said.

Schade said the kids also learned about character building and were imbued with important life lessons such as perseverance and teamwork. "They learned a lot about who they were, as people," she said.

Earlier in April the students competed against 51 teams from across Long Island and a team from Brazil at the semi-finals at Hofstra University.

The road to Team RICE 870's success has been paved with hard work and diligence. The team also competed at the Buckeye Regional event in Cleveland, Ohio on March 18 and 19, where they qualified 24th, made it to the playoffs, and finished eighth.

Team Rice's robot is named Killer Rabbit, due to a mechanism on the front shaped like bunny ears, an idea suggested by Ed Chilton, a mentor who also owns Beachwood Sand and Gravel.

This year's competition, Schade said, was based upon a medieval them where the team had to capture the opponents in a castle and the robot had to breach defenses to get to the castle.

According to Schade, the team learned what the task would be for this year's game on January 9 at Stony Brook and then had six weeks to design and build their robot.

"It's countless hours," she said, adding that the team met after school from 2:45 p.m. until 10 or 11 p.m. at night and on weekends.

This year, the Southold team has 34 members.

Schade thanked the community, the school administration, the board of education, mentors, and area sponsors, such as Miller Environmental and other businesses, for working together to support the students. "We wouldn't be here without them," she said.

She, co-advisor Gammon, and the mentors are "incredibly proud of this group of kids," Schade said.

The drive team, along with a scout team, that helps find the other two teams with which to form an "alliance", all work diligently and use strategies to forge partnerships, she said.

The competition is based on science and engineering and helps instill lifetime skills, Schade said. "This is a sport for the mind," she said. "This program is amazing."

For the students, the chance to head to finals was cause for jubilation. "I'm pretty excited," said Jake McCarthy. "I love robotics and everyone in robotics. I think it's a great program. I have a lot of fun there."

The robot, he said, specialized in breaking down defenses, such as scaling rock walls and shooting balls in the top of the tower.

"I'm ecstatic," added student Joe Saporita.

Co-advisor Gammon said the win demonstrated a lesson he strives to instill in students: "E = R," he said. "Effort equals results."