Launch Workplaces is excited to update everyone on the STEM robotics club that we sponsor and host at our Montgomery County locations! This group of young people is making a big impact on the local community and learning a great deal along the way. Here is the 2017 summary of competition!
“Wizards.exe, FTC Team 9794, ended the official 2016-2017 Velocity Vortex at the World Championship in St. Louis on April 29th. Our team had one of the toughest qualification schedules, competing against 8 teams ranked in the top 10, yet still ended in 21st position out of 64 teams in our division. Gandalf, our robot, was statistically ranked as the 2nd highest robot for the autonomous portion out of all 128 robots by triggering all 18 beacons attempted and scoring 18 out of 22 particles into the center goal. Statistically, we ranked 8th out of 128 teams. The team was selected by the 4th ranked alliance and lost a close semi-finals match against the top alliance and ultimate World Champion.
Despite not being nominated for any awards, the volunteers and FIRST partners were impressed with out outreach and commitment to expanding the STEM community. We ended the season with over 1600 outreach hours, 110 outreach events, mentoring 7 different FIRST LEGO League (FLL) and FLL Jr. teams and impacting over 50 teams in Maryland from FLL Jr. through FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC). We held over 11 training sessions and hosted 3 different FTC scrimmages. One of our most impactful event was hosting an FLL Jr. Expo to engage kids from K-3rd grade. The wizards trained both Maryland FLL and FLL Jr. teams that were at the World Championships. Part of our goal to inspire FLL Jr., we handed out tiaras to several girls on FLL Jr. teams.
Over the past year our greatest accomplishments were winning 2nd Place Inspire Award at the East Super Regional, the Inspire Award at the Diamond State Championships, the Connect Award at Maryland State Championships, and several finalist alliances in the robot game.
Our 8 new team members, 7 of whom are in Middle School, were critical to the successes we had this year and all the outreach and training we did. They led most of our outreach to local schools and creation of communities for FLL and FLL Jr. teams. Our veteran team members were able to help mentor the new team members on robot design and programming. This year we truly Shared the Magic with other and this would not have been possible without all the support from our sponsors.
Thank you for all that you have done to help support our FTC team 9794, Wizards.exe, and our effort to spread awareness of STEM programs and FIRST robotics.”
