The Botcats team had an incredible season! With a steady foundation built in the previous season, we were able to come at this year with a new focus - growth.

After a packed summer of goal setting and community outreach, we went into the fall with big plans. We began with strong recruitment, making sure to advertise that our team is more than just the robot. This led to growth from 20 to over 60 students, and from all grades and interest groups! Then came the challenge of training all of the new recruits and making sure that we had enough funds for the season ahead. We taught a variety of workshops and worked to leave a lasting impact on the community by sharing what FIRST and STEM are all about. To see all the outreach we did this past year, check out the outreach tab of our website.

Once the fall came to an end, we began the build season with much excitement. Continuing our outreach by volunteering at and hosting FIRST LEGO League events and working with elementary students on STEM challenges. On top of this we spent six weeks working hard to devise a strategy, design, and build our robot. The build season was a wild one as the challenges were like ones we hadn't faced before but our team faced it head on and before we knew it, it was time for our regional competition!

At the end of February, we loaded up with two other teams and headed to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to show off what we had worked so hard on. Our team was working like a well designed machine. Students were talking to judges about our teams efforts in the past year, making connections with other teams from out of state, and driving the robot to the best of their abilities. It all paid off as our team sat in the top 10 for the entire weekend. Our robot was consistently scoring fuel cells into the high port and climbing every match! In the end, we were selected to be apart of the 5th seed alliance and made it to the semi-finals!

After the matches wrapped up our team sat down to listen to the awards ceremony. We cheered and clapped for our teammates and friends who earned various awards. Towards the very end of the ceremony, our team was honored and surprised to earn the Regional Engineering Inspiration award. This is given to a team who advances their communities appreciation for STEM in one year. We were beyond thrilled to have our efforts recognized and on top of that, it qualified us for the World Championship in Houston in April!

Unfortunately COVID-19 prevented us from attending our second regional competition and World Championships but it also gave us the gift of time. We began updating our team structure based on what we learned throughout the year, planning how we could continue outreach in a virtual environment, and setting goals for the upcoming year.

To keep up with everything we are up to, check out our social media pages!