The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Robotics students readying for regional contest
MIDDLETOWN — For two consecutive weeks, Mercy High School’s Robotics Team, the TechTigers, competed in the New England FIRST District Event in Waterbury, and the New England FIRST District Western New England Event in Springfield, Mass., March 19-20.
“What an honor to win the chairman’s award and to have been on the secondplace alliance,” physics teacher and TechTigers mentor Sangita Raya said in a prepared statement. “We were also quarter finalists and ranked ninth overall.”
The award is “the most prestigious award at FIRST, it honors the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the mission of FIRST,” the press release said. “It was created to keep the central focus of FIRST Robotics Competition on the goal of transforming the culture in ways that will inspire greater levels of respect and honor for science and technology, as well as encouraging more of today’s youth to become science and technology leaders.”
The engineering award celebrates “outstanding success on advancing respect and appreciation for engineering and inspiring others to respect science and technology,” the news release said.
The TechTigers have won many awards, events and championships since the team’s founding in 2010, as one of the only all-girl FIRST robotics teams in the New England district, the school said.
TechTiger mentor and father of Mercy alumnae, Steve Ernst, said in a statement: “It’s true that they’re an ‘all-girls’ team. But gender does not define their level of talent and abilities; they’re tough competitors.
They are a superior allaround team.”
“Getting back to in-person competitions has been amazing,” TechTigers captain Grace Cink said in the release. “As a team, we participated in as many virtual competitions, and judged awards as possible while completely reworking our outreach during the height of the pandemic. This was rewarding, but there is just nothing like the thrill of in-person competitions.”
The TechTiger’s next stop is the New England District Championships, which run from April 13 to 16. They have their sights on the World Championship in Houston, Texas, from April 20 to 23.
For information, visit techtigers3654.org.