In the span of a few days, the Iron Mosquitos traveled to Houston, competed in front of 50,000 people, met fellow robotics students from around the globe and even visited NASA.
How’s that for a few days away from school.
That unforgettable experience was part of the Northeast Range robotics team’s visit to the FIRST Robotics Championships, held April 29 to May 2 in Houston, Texas.
The Iron Mosquitos, who qualified based on their performance at a competition in North Dakota in March, ranked 47th out of 75 in their division field at Houston, but their standing was only part of a whirlwind week.
It was the second year in a row that the team qualified for the world competition.
“Worlds was a great experience,” said Ryan Lindsay, head coach of the high school team. “Our match average score was higher than the field average and the students were proud of their performance. Our statistics show us somewhere in the middle pack of the robots on the championship field. There are approximately 4000 teams across the planet and around 600 competed at the championship.”
The team competed in front of 50,000 people, giving the event the atmosphere and feel of a major happening.”
“It is an honor to compete with the best on the planet,” said Lindsay. “For reference, we did place behind a few Minnesota teams, but also were about 15 spots in front of the Edina team. There are no small school divisions in robotics. The students should be very proud of what they accomplished this year.”
In addition to competing on the field, the students presented for the Impact award at the event.
“We did not make the final five selected, but the judges made several visits to our pit during judging,” said Lindsay. “After winners were announced, they made a special visit to talk with the team about how impressed they were on what we accomplished being from such a small school. We were in the conversation for awards at least.”
During the course of the competition, the Northeast Range students made contacts with teams from Shanghai, Taiwan, Brazil, Turkey, Mexico, Australia, Japan, Switzerland and more.
“One of our students speaks fluent Turkish which proved very useful in strategy meetings,” said Lindsay.
The team also had a chance to see some sights around Houston, including the NASA Space Center as well as some beach time in Houston.
In order to make the trip, the team had several fundraisers and Lindsay said he and the team were thankful for widespread support.
“Thank you to the community, business and individuals, that made it possible for our students to experience the international competition and represent our area well.”
Team members are Tuuli Koivisto, Makana Bodas, Molly Lindsay, Jadin Nilsson, Evangeline Morgan, Makenzie Little, Tristan Teslow, Wilhelmina Mattila, Damien Medicine, Raeanna Medicine, Alexianna Jenkins, Clayton Haus, Mason Mostek, Jada Medicine and Yagmur Kilic.
