This past weekend, March 28-30, TMI sent five teams to the FIRST Alamo Regional Championship at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.  This was TMI’s first year to qualify for the FTC championship and the first year TMI had to qualify for the FLL championship.

Upper School Rookie FTC team 6219 had a great competition, winning four of their five qualifying matches. They ended up 5th in their division and just missed out being an alliance captain. Many lessons were learned this season, they had an outstanding season and great competitions, and will come back as strong competitors next season.

Upper School FTC Team 6221 competed well in the qualifying rounds and were chosen for a semi-final alliance along with Brandeis, the teams’ practicing partner. Their semi-finals competition ended early, but the team had a great showing at the competition, learned many lessons, and will have a lot to build on next year in FTC!

Middle School Team 12605 consisted of 6 eighth graders and 1 seventh grader. Three members of the team competed last year in the championship and this team was our only non-rookie team. They competed very well in all 3 interviews and in their robot runs, and won an award for their robot. Team 12605 – 5 Guys, 2 Girls and a Robot had a simple, yet efficient robot design that could accomplish many tasks with their super-box attachment. The judges liked the design and gave them the award for Strategy and Innovation.

Middle School Team 12607 had 6 seventh graders who had never competed in FLL before. They had great interviews and improved their robot scores from their qualifier. Team 12607 – Mean Bots won their award for their project – The Forget Me Not bracelet. They designed this bracelet for seniors with forgetfulness or memory loss. The bracelet has a transmitter that sends out RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) signals to 4 of the seniors favorite items (glasses, remote, purse, wallet, keys, etc) that are tagged with an ID sensor. The bracelet signals the senior when they are within 3 feet of their item, so the item can be found. The FLL judges thought their idea was great and awarded them with the Innovation Solution trophy.

Middle School Team 12607 – Don’t Try This at Home also had 6 rookie seventh graders. This team had consistently high scores in all three of their interviews, with a near perfect score in their Design and Core Value interviews, and had great robot runs. With almost perfect scores in two interviews and a 2nd place trophy from their qualifier, this team has many accomplishments to be proud of this season.

Thank you to all the parents who showed up to support and help out at the competitions this past weekend. Thank you to Dr. Waddington for the countless hours you gave to the FTC teams practicing and at the all-day qualifiers and championship. Thank you John Brady, FTC and FLL Mentor, for your time and support throughout the season at practices and competitions.

FIRST is a program that has a lot to offer in the way of teaching kids about real life and the value in working with other people. There are 7 core values of FIRST, but in our world of ‘we gotta win and the best at everything’ world we live in, perhaps we all could benefit from a reminder from the FIRST core value of – WHAT WE DISCOVER IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN WHAT WE WIN.

Congratulations, Panther Robotics!

FIRST Core Values:

• We are a team.
• We do the work to find solutions with guidance from our coaches and mentors.
• We know our coaches and mentors don’t have all the answers; we learn together.
• We honor the spirit of friendly competition.
• What we discover is more important than what we win.
• We share our experiences with others.
• We display Gracious Professionalism® and Coopertition® in everything we do.
• We have FUN!

Submitted by TMI Parent and FLL Coach, Betsy Westerman