High school robotics students recognized for outstanding achievement at the Greater Kansas City Regional FIRST® Robotics Competition

High school robotics students recognized for outstanding achievement at the Greater Kansas City Regional FIRST® Robotics Competition

Six Kansas City area teams advance to World Robotics Championship, and teams from Missouri, Kansas and surrounding states receive other top honors.

Kansas City, Mo. (March 15, 2014) Attended by thousands of fans, families, educators and industry leaders, the Greater Kansas City Regional FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition awarded several teams with honors that rewarded design excellence, competitive play, sportsmanship and high impact partnerships between schools, businesses and communities.

Held at MCC Business & Technology on March 14and 15, the 58 high school student teams competed to earn a spot at the FIRST Championship, held April 23-26, 2014, in St. Louis, Mo.

“Each team clearly demonstrated teamwork, professionalism and strategic thinking in solving the competition’s challenges,” said Laura Bauer, Regional Director of KC FIRST.

“The noise level from the audience cheering on the teams was incredible,” added Laura Loyacono, director of KC STEM Alliance. “Students, school groups, community members and professional team mentors packed the stands. With the continued and sustained support of the Kansas City region, this robotics competition will continue to grow and inspire students to study science, technology, engineering and math.”

According to a Brandeis University study, students who participate in FIRST are twice as likely to major in science or engineering in college—and young women who participate in FIRST are more than four times as likely to pursue science and engineering in college.

Students participating in FIRST are also eligible to apply for over $19 million dollars in scholarships from leading universities, colleges and companies. Scholarship announcements are made at the FIRST championship in St. Louis.

Winners of the Greater Kansas City Regional FIRST Robotics 2014 Competition include:

Regional Chairman’s Award** (highest award of the competition) – UP Next Community Team, Team 3528, Kansas City Metro Area

(The Regional Chairman’s Award is the most prestigious award of the event and recognizes the team that embodies the goals and purpose of FIRST and best represents a model for other teams to emulate.)

Engineering Inspiration Award** (second highest award of competition) – Tulsa Engineering Academy-Memorial High School, Team 932, Tulsa, OK

Regional Champions**

 Lee’s Summit West High School, Team 1986, Lee’s Summit, MO

Independence School District, Team 1723, Independence, MO

NASA-JSC & Clear Creek School District, Team 118, Clear Creek, TX

 

Regional Finalists (Two designated** qualify for Championship as Wild Card Winners)

Lincoln College Preparatory Academy, Team 1775, Kansas City, MO**

Smithville High School, Team 1806, Smithville, MO**

Newton High School, Team 935, Newton, KS

Rookie All-Star Award** – North Kansas City High School, Team 5098, North Kansas City, MO

Woodie Flowers Finalist Award – Gavin Wood, Mentor, The Barstow School, Team 1939, Kansas City, MO

Outstanding Volunteer of the Year Award Regional Champion – Honeywell

Xerox Creativity Award – Paseo Academy of the Arts, Team 1763, Kansas City, MO

Chrysler Team Spirit Award –Lincoln College Preparatory Academy, Team 1775 – Kansas City, MO


Jack Kamen Honorary Imagery Award – The Barstow School, Team 1939, Kansas City, MO

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship Award – Lee’s Summit High School, Team 1730, Lee’s Summit, MO

Delphi Excellence in Engineering Award- NASA-JSC & Clear Creek School District, Team 118, Clear Creek, TX

General Motors Industrial Design Award – Lee’s Summit North High School Team 1987, Lee’s Summit, MO

Johnson & Johnson Gracious Professionalism Award – JC Harmon High School, Team 1769, Kansas City, KS

Motorola Quality Award
 School – Piper High School, Team 1802, Piper, KS

Rockwell Automation Innovation in Control Award – Lee’s Summit West High School, Team 1986, Lee’s Summit, MO

Judges’ Award – Blue Valley CAPS, Team 2410, Overland Park, KS

Rookie Inspiration Award – Olathe South High School, Team 5268, Olathe, KS

Highest Rookie Seed Award – Lawrence Free State High School, Team 5119, Lawrence, KS

FIRST® Dean’s List Finalists (Outstanding Student Leadership) Jordan Burkland, Des Moines Metro Area Schools, Des Moines, IA and Cameron Lerch, Lee’s Summit West High School, Lee’s Summit, MO

**Denotes awards where teams qualify to participate in the FIRST Championship to be held in St. Louis, Mo.

About this year’s game: The 2014 game, AERIAL ASSISTSM, is played by two Alliances of three teams each. Alliances compete by trying to score as many balls in goals as possible during a two-minute and 30-second match. Additional points are earned by robots working together to score goals, and by throwing and catching balls over a truss suspended just over five feet above the floor as they move the ball down the field. With the hope of winning one of the several coveted awards, high school students worked with professional Mentors to design and build a robot over a six-week period that solved a problem using a kit of parts and a standard set of rules.