George Mason High Robotics Headed To World Competition

FALLS CHURCH, VA—The George Mason High School robotics team is headed to the FIRST World Championship for the fourth straight year. Team 1418 Vae Victis, a FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team, will join teams from around the world in Detroit on April 24-27.

The team qualified for the world competition after participating in district tournament matches during spring break. According to the school district, the team ended with nine wins, two losses and a tie. Team 1418 made it to the FIRST World Championship in the previous three years.

Founded in 2004, the current team has 24 members: Erik Boesen, Ben Updike, Sarah Fong, Addison Rasmussen, Tahaseen Shaik, Sofia Heartney, Anuragi Thapliya, Joe Carpenter, Jack Evans, Ethan Sisbarro, Andrew Lester, Stephanie Synnott, Keenan Hom, Mira Vega, Nikita Solovyov, Ian Zullo, Cole Tarter, Adam Schultz, Aleksander Schultz, Kevin Zhang, Rachel Danckaert, Sasha Eppler, Tim Urquhart and Bobby Miller.

Aside from competing, the team has been involved in community work. Members offer free summer camps on basic LEGO Robotics to elementary school students and volunteer for FIRST Lego League competitions. They've also helped form robotics teams in rural Ecuador and educate students there.

The FIRST World Championship draws tens of thousands of students from around the world. The competition is open to students participating in FIRST's K-12 robotics programs: the FIRST LEGO League Jr., FIRST LEGO League, FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST Robotics.

Find out more about Team 1418 and how to support them at 1418.team.