TECHALONGS
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Inspire Award Winners, State Championships 2025
Inspire Award Winners, State Championships 2025
The Techalongs are a "daughter" team of the Herberger Howlers (FTC #13968, sponsored by the Herberger Young Scholars Academy [HYSA]). In 2020, following the state competition, Jared Schein began working with Girl Scouts as an outreach project for the HYSA Howlers. He attended a neighborhood Girl Scout event with the Howlers' robot and generated a list of troops interested in learning about robots...and immediately after gathering that list, COVID hit.
Pivoting, during COVID, the Howlers partnered with girls in Troop 2256 to teach girls more about robotics and started online badge workshops for troops who wanted to learn more. Then, in the summer of 2021, Jared partnered with Ella, who is the older sister of founding Techalongs member, Maya, to offer a robotics day camp experience for two sessions of a week-long day camp. About 120 girls got introduced to FIRST and momentum for a team increased.
In the 2021-2022 season, Jared met Mrs. Drake, who is a founder of the Phoenix chapter of Girls in Tech. Coach Drake of GIT and Coach Diana of Girl Scouts created our brand new team after recruiting a small but mighty team of four. Its name, the Techalongs, is a play on the Tagalong, a popular Girl Scout cookie.
In our first season (2022-2023), we made it to the state championships and we learned a lot about gracious professionalism, teamwork, and, of course, robotics. In our second season, we had three new team members and a determination to build on what we had learned. We had an enormously successful season and worked to build our numbers, as well as our outreach program. The 2024-2025 season started with a band when we won the Inspire Award at our first qualifier. We followed up that award with Connect and Innovate awards at our next two qualifiers and then won the Inspire Award at the state championship, and with it, a bid to Worlds!
A key component of our Outreach is that we believe if we persist in exposing our Girl Scout community to FIRST robotics, we will be able to continue to build our numbers. We have had many adults approach us about the possibility of a FIRST Lego team in the neighborhood. Mentoring such a team is a long-term goal for the team and to make that happen, we have been working with council to gain their financial support for such a venture. A sister FLL team would provide the Techalongs with a sustainable pipeline to recruit and train future FTC teammates. If you are interested in coaching an FLL team of Girl Scouts, please contact us!
Meet the Team
Meet the Team
Eleanor
Eleanor
Robot Team Captain
Eleanor (aka Python) is a member of troop 4202 and a founding member of the Techalongs. The team's primary coder, her favorite activities in Girl Scouts are selling cookies and going to camp. She attends BASIS Scottsdale. Eleanor enjoys making new friends in FIRST and the challenge of coding. Her favorite cookie is the Lemon-Up.
Maya
Maya
Maya (aka Pip) is a member of troop 2010 and a founding member of the Techalongs. Her favorite activity in Girl Scouts is selling cookies; her favorite cookie is the Samoa. She attends Scottsdale Prep Academy where she is a member of the tennis team. She spent three years on a First Lego League team and now is our lead mentor for a local team, as well as a builder.
Lila
Lila
Admin Team Captain
Lila (aka Harmony) is our third founding member and belogns to troop 4727. She attends Arizona Agribusiness and Equine Center. Her favorite Girl Scout activities are eating Tagalong cookies and volunteering. Lila leads our outreach and administration efforts and is our wire management guru, but her favorite part of each season is competing.
Alice
Alice
Alice (aka Tinker) is a member of Troop 7076, and her favorite Girl Scout activity is camping. She attends Cheyenne Traditional School where she was on the FLL team. Alice is primarily a builder and she is excited to continue to do robotics in an all-girl setting! Her favorite Girl Scout cookies are Tagalongs.
Illiana
Illiana
Illiana (aka Daredevil) attends Copper Ridge Middle School and is a member of Troop 4727. Their favorite Girl Scout activity is Day Camp. Illy was excited to put some graphic design skills to good use as a member of our admin team, and their favorite Girl Scout cookie is the Lemon-Up.
Victoria
Victoria
Victoria (aka Geode) attends Cheyenne Traditional School and is a member of Troop 7076. In her first year, she became a dynamic builder with great ideas. She is looking forward to learning more about robotics and working on the competition bot in season 2! Her favorite cookies are Samoas.
Aria
Aria
Aria (aka Beatle) is a member of Troop 4727. She attends Sunrise Middle School and enjoyed building and having fun in her first year on the team, particularly going to Worlds and meeting so many other teams. Her favorite cookies are Thin Mints.
Anna
Anna
Anna (aka Sunshine) is a member of Troop 4338. She attends Desert Canyon Middle School and is our freshly minted Junior Coder. She is looking forward to coding in her second season, as well as robotics camp. Her favorite cookies are Girl Scout S'mores.
Jessica
Jessica
Jessica (aka Boo) is a member of Troop 7076. She is an eighth grader at Cheyenne Traditional School. She is particularly interested in working on Outreach with the team and dove right into working on some STEM badge workshops. Making friends is her favorite part of Girl Scouts, particularly as a counselor at Day Camp. Her favorite Girl Scout cookie is the discontinued Savannah Smiles.
Charlotte
Charlotte
Charlotte is an FLL veteran and a member of Troop 4366. She is a sixth grader at Desert Canyon Middle School and joined the team after attending the Techalongs robotics camp. She is excited to join the team and is particularly interested in learning to code.
Cecilia
Cecilia
Ceclia (aka Glimmer) is a member of Troop 4338 and attends Pinnacle Prep. She is excited to work on the administrative side of the team and learn to use Canva, as well as to learn some new STEM skills and make new friends.
Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is a new member of Troop 2010 and attends Scottsdale Prep. She is excited join the team as an outlet for her love of building.
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