Carson High School Robotics Team advances to FIRST World Championship

Team Captain, the Carson High School robotics team representing Carson City, has been invited to the prestigious FIRST World Championship, which includes 39 countries, in Houston, Texas to be held next month.

They will compete in the FIRST Tech Challenge, one of four robotics programs offered by For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, also known as FIRST.

Eagle Valley Middle School in Carson City has also been invited to participate in the FIRST Tech Challenge. Go here for the story.

At the competition, they will join 127 other teams, representing more than 55,000 students who participated in more than 300 qualifying and championship tournaments worldwide during the past five months. The FIRST Championship (also called the World Festival) is the culmination of this experience.

In the Western part of the United States, 1,034 FIRST Tech Challenge teams competed at more than 50 tournaments in 13 Western States during the 2016-2017 season. A total of 73 teams, which is the top 6 percent, qualified to compete at the FTC West Super Regional in Tacoma, Washington on March 10-12, 2017. Team Captain (FTC team # 5687) earned a spot to compete by securing the Winning Alliance Award at the Nevada State FTC Championship in Las Vegas on February 3-4, 2017.

Although the team did not win any of the top awards at the FTC West Super Regional, the team received an invitation to advance to the FIRST World Championship based on its performance during the season. Team Captain will now be competing with the best-of-the-best, along with the FIRST LEGO League robotics team from Eagle Valley Middle School, which also qualified for the FIRST Championship.

The team is much more than robots. It does extensive community outreach: demonstrations at elementary and middle schools to stimulate interest in robotics and STEM-related field; volunteering at FIRST competitions; performing community service; giving a keynote presentation for an Engineering Week event held at GE; teaching robot design and programming skills to younger kids, such as those in FLL; and tirelessly working to promote STEM, FIRST and FTC.

The team would like to thank its amazing sponsors who donate time, space, products and funds to the team. A big thank you goes to GE, Western Nevada College, Greater Nevada Credit Union and Raymond James. They also would like to thank their mentors: Emily Howarth of Western Nevada College and Stephen Post of GE.

Team Captain is: Allan Huntington (captain), Henry Sturm (vice captain), Nicholas Bowler, Zachary Frewert, Stuart McElhany, Luke Bowler, Rylan Fancher, Adelynn Puett, Nanami Duncan, and Casanova Segura. The team is coached by Scot Duncan and Michelle Bowler.

The team is asking for donations to fund its season. Expenses include the purchase of: robot components (i.e. motors, sensors, controllers, structural elements, etc.); tools; registration fees for FIRST events and competitions; and travel expenses. For more information, please contact Michelle Bowler at michellebowler@mac.com or 775-230-4748. Additionally, the team has a GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/20162017-ftc-team-captain-5687.

Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science, technology, engineering, and math in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology and engineering.

With support from over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies and more than $20 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST Robotics competition for students in grades 9-12, FIRST Tech Challenge for grades 7-12, FIRST LEGO League for grades 4-8, and FIRST LEGO League Jr. for grades K-4. Gracious Professionalism® is a way of doing things that encourages high quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals in the community. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.firstinspires.org.

FIRST Tech Challenge, a program founded by FIRST is a worldwide science and technology program that inspires young people in grades 7-12 about the excitement and personal rewards of science and technology. It is a challenging exploration of real‐world problems using hands‐on robotics and research. The FTC season ends with tournaments around the world that celebrate the achievement of FTC teams. Successful FTC teams demonstrate shared values and team members learn that, as individuals, they can make significant contributions to their communities and to society using science and technology.