For the third consecutive year, Grapevine High School’s robotics team has advanced to the UIL 5A FIRST Tech Challenge State Championship, which this year will be held Friday, May 9, at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi. Only the top 25 public school teams in Texas will compete.
The Mustangs qualified for state by finishing second place among public schools at the regional championship held February 22 at Marcus High School in Flower Mound.
Throughout the robotics season, which began in September, GHS earned several awards, including being named the FIRST Tech Challenge’s Connect Award recipient, which recognizes the team that most connects with their local science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) community. At semi-regionals they won the Finalist Alliance award, an award that is presented to a team whose unique efforts, performance or dynamics merit recognition. The team then went on to regionals where they were named the second place Motivate Award winner, presented to the team that clearly demonstrates what it means to be a team.
FIRST, which stands For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, is a non-profit foundation dedicated to empowering and equipping students across Texas for success in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.
During the competition, students are challenged to design, build, program and operate robots to a head-to-head challenge in an alliance format, which means partnering with another team to face off against two other teams with the goal of emphasizing respectful competition.
To learn more, visit the FIRST Tech Challenge website.