Veterans Memorial High School Patriot Engineering had ten teams that fought hard until the end of the four FIRST RGV Championship meets on January 27th and February 3rd, 2018 and the Wildcard meet in Laredo on February 10th. The students deserve to be commended and celebrated for their hard work and commitment throughout the FIRST RGV season which began in September 2017. In all, 8 of the 10 Patriot Engineering teams advanced to competitions outside of the Rio Grande Valley. Three teams were crowned as Champions and advanced directly to the State Meet in Austin on February 17th. Five teams were finalists and advanced to the Wildcard meet in Laredo on February 10th for another chance to attend the Alamo Region meet.
In Laredo, the five teams made it to the semi-finals and two teams went all the way to the finals. One team qualified to advance to the State Meet in Austin due to only 6 spots allocated for the winning alliance and award winners from the Laredo meet. Team 12449 received the coveted Inspire Award and allowed them to claim the first ticket to Austin.
Along with great robot performance, our teams also won numerous awards. Team 12697 won the Connect award, Team 12450 won the top award – Inspire Award and the Innovation Award. Team 12450 and Team 12448 were recommended for the Design Award and Team 12448 was nominated for the Innovative Award. Team 12451 was nominated for the Judges Award. Team 12449 won the Inspire Award and Motivate Award.
In the state meet at Austin, Team 12401 was ranked 5th of 39 and ended up as a division finalist. Team 12449 was ranked 12th of 39, Team 12697 was ranked 22 of 39, and Team 12447 was ranked 36 of 39. Austin wrapped up Patriot Engineering’s FIRST FTC competition season, but the students are already excited about what next year will bring!
Thank you to all who have shown great support for the Patriot Engineering students throughout their journey and many thanks to the Career and Technical Education department, district personnel, and board members for making it possible for so many students to experience such an engaging and challenging STEM project.