Community School’s Middle School program launched its first robotics team this year! The team joined the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) Chesapeake League, which includes students in grades 7-12, and competed this season against teams from Virginia, Delaware, and Maryland.
The team’s name is F.R.O.G., which stands for FIRST (Tech Challenge) Robotics Outreach Group. The team includes three of our third-year students, Devin, Joule, and Samuel, and is led by parent Coach Cathy Sarisky and teacher Erin Mucha.
This inaugural season was filled with practices focused on building, coding, and learning how to drive the robot. Along the way, students developed teamwork, resilience, and problem-solving skills. The season also included two exciting days of competitions against regional teams.
The first match took place on the weekend of January 18 at Garrett College in McHenry, Maryland, where the team placed 12th out of 34 teams. The following weekend, they traveled to Bassett High School and placed 17th out of 25 teams. Each competition day included five matches, where our students put their hard work, practice, and knowledge to the test in this year’s FTC challenge: Into the Deep.
For the Into the Deep challenge, robots were tasked with picking up block specimens and either placing them in baskets or hooking them to bars within a two-minute timeframe. Teams could earn bonus points at the end of the match if their robot successfully hung on a bar and remained fully off the ground.
The match days provided wonderful opportunities for our students to practice healthy competition and to see their hard work in action.