Rockwood Robotics Team, Students Qualify for FIRST World Championships

March 6, 2023

Nine Rockwood students on a robotics team smile with their trophies after qualifying for worlds The Eureka High Bosons robotics team and Force Green, a team composed of Rockwood students, qualified for the FIRST World Championships, which will be held in Houston, Texas, from April 19-22.

The Bosons and Force Green qualified due to their performance in the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) Missouri-Kansas Regional Championship at Missouri S&T State University in Rolla on March 4.

The Bosons were the first team selected in the Winning Alliance at the competition and also earned the Control Award. During one of their matches, the Bosons and their alliance partner recorded the second-highest score in the world for this FTC season.

Bosons team members are Xavier Attea, Reese Atwood (co-captain), Landen Baan, Carl Hillam, Larz Hillam, Mark Li, Matt Lozano (co-captain), Izzy Massey, Alex Meier, Gus Metz, Adi Parekh and Thomas Ponstingl.

Twelve Rockwood students and their coaches on a robotics team smile with their trophies after qualifying for Worlds Force Green, which features students from all four Rockwood high schools, earned the second-place Inspire Award, was the first team selected for the Finalist Alliance and earned the Think Award.

Force Green team members are Peter Himstedt (Eureka), Supreet Aradhya, Daniel Carrillo, Joey Marchand, Aly Palmquist, Taha Shakeel, Parthiv Voleti and Alex Zamsky (Lafayette), Ayden Church, Sneha Deo and Shravya Sunkugari (Marquette) and Tejus Krishnan (Rockwood Summit).

A Rockwood robotics team of 13 students smile with their award at the state championships. This year's FIRST Championship is expected to welcome at least 600 robotics teams from around the world. The Marquette Luxons also earned second-alternate status for Worlds after being the captain of the Finalist Alliance and winning the Design Award.

Other Rockwood robotics teams and students also earned awards at the Missouri-Kansas Regional Championship. The Marquette Baryons earned the Innovate Award, and P3 (featuring students from Lafayette, Rockwood Summit and Selvidge Middle) earned the Motivate Award.

A robotics team of six students, featuring five from Rockwood, smile with their award at the state championships. P3 team members will travel to the FIRST World Championship in April to present about their FIRST Initiative, which involves improving the affordability, accessibility and safety of feminine care products. The team received $2,250 in grants to travel to Houston and purchase supplies for their initiative. P3 has already recruited three teams to be FIRST ambassadors for this project next season, and they are working to find more.

A Rockwood robotics team featuring 15 students smiles with its award at the state championships.