Post date: Oct 4, 2014 4:07:55 PM

The local columnist included our Baltimore O' Baltimore accomplishments in her news on October 2nd.

Here is the link to the full column: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/lisbon-fulton/ph-ho-n-glenwood-1002-20140925,0,5179366.story

Glenelg High's robotics team shows a lot of class

On Saturday, Sept. 20, the Glenelg High School Robotiators, Team 888 Robotics team, competed in and earned two awards at the 8th annual Battle O' Baltimore FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition.

Team 888 performed well among the 32 teams from schools as far away as New York and Virginia. The Robotiators' solid play during the qualifying rounds earned them one of the eight coveted alliance captain positions. Despite suffering the failures of a pressure regulator and main processor board during elimination play, the team was able to repair the competition robot, which they call "The Dean". Unfortunately, Team 888's great run ended against the top-seeded alliance at the Battle O' Baltimore.

Despite the robot's problems, the human part of the team took home two awards. The first award was the Star Spangled Banner Award for Gracious Professionalism.

Team 888's win was not a fluke. Mentors Dean Sheridan and Raymond Gerstner encourage the Robotiators to assist other teams by supplying missing parts, and providing programming and electronics help to teach and improve other robotics teams.

During events such as the Battle O' Baltimore, Team 888 members are often seen helping other teams with their robots. This is the second Gracious Professionalism award the team has received this calendar year, having earned the award at the Greater DC Regional event in the spring.

The Battle O' Baltimore's mentor award, named after Commodore John Rodgers, the commander of the ship that fired the first shot in the War of 1812, was awarded to Glenelg's lead mentor Sheridan. The award goes to the outstanding Mentor of the Battle as judged by a panel of previous winners.

The students on the Robotiator team nominated Sheridan for the award and submitted an essay about how inspiring and exceptional he is as a leader. Congratulations to these outstanding students and their mentors.