Shelton robotics team punches ticket to championships
SHELTON — Shelton robotics is continuing its championship tradition.
The Shelton Vipers, made up of eight students — with five from Perry Hill School and three from Shelton Intermediate School — topped the field in last weekend’s FIRST LEGO League State Tournament, finishing the top team in the state and earning a trip to the FIRST LEGO League World Championships in Houston, Texas, on April 19-23.
“Shelton robotics has a great history,” said Michele Piccolo, team advisor and longtime Shelton High teacher. “This is the 25th year for the high school Gaelhawk program which has helped to grow the FIRST LEGO League program.”
“This is a group of very dedicated students and mentors who are committed to seeing this program succeed,” said Piccolo, adding that Shelton has won four state titles overall.
Teams are judged on three areas: robot design and performance; innovation project; and the core values of discovery, innovation, impact, inclusion, teamwork and fun. Shelton had three teams in the 48-team state tournament field. The Vipers claimed the title, with the Resistors placing fourth overall and Techniq earning the Judges Award for helping others to learn coding.
“It is an honor to represent Connecticut at the FLL World event,” said Vipers coach Paul Pilkington. “It was great to watch the team evolve and gel this season, considering the age span across the kids and so many new members.”
Pilkington said the team had a strong research project, and the students overcame some challenges with their robot to persevere.
“I am so proud of them,” he added. “Everyone is so excited to go to Houston and we will start back up in January to make improvements and prepare for Worlds.”
All three teams had students from Perry Hill and Shelton Intermediate schools.
“The success of Shelton’s teams has a great deal to do with the coaches and mentors of these three teams,” said Laurie Vogl, head coach of the FIRST LEGO League program.
“The coaches and mentors spend a great deal of time supporting and teaching the students in the three aspects of LEGO league — core values, innovation project, and the robot game,” Vogl added. “They are encouraged as a team to solve a real-life problem using their skills and interests.”
Hirdesh Upadhyay, coach of the Resistors, was proud of the team’s fourth place finish in the competitive field.
“We’ve all worked so hard this season and we all had a lot of ups and downs but I’m so glad that we could finally make it up there,” said Upadhyay.
The Resistors have three fifth graders, two sixth graders, one seventh grader, and one eighth grader.
“Most people think that because of the variety of age, it took a while for us to get along, but we all became friends almost instantly,” Upadhyay added.
Over the years, Shelton has made it to the World Championships five times. In 2020, Vogl said the Predators did not compete as the event was cancelled due to the pandemic.
“The reason Shelton does so well in robotics is mainly because of the amount of support we get from our schools and town,” Upadhyay said. “We always have so many volunteers ready to help and the high school is always ready to give us the space to practice. All of our coaches and mentors help the teams so much and we’re so grateful for them.”
Past success includes the 2016 and 2017 Shelton Sistematic team, which took first place in the state championship to go to the world championships. In 2018 and 2019, the Shelton Predators took first place in the state championships to earn their place in the world championships.
Eighth grader and Vipers team member Evan Pilkington said when he first joined FLL in fifth grade he did not expect the amount of effort and work required to excel in all three aspects, “but I loved it from the very beginning.”
Pilkington was a fifth grader in 2019 when his team, the Predators, won the state championship. However, COVID hit in 2020 and Worlds was cancelled.
“This year, my team had so many new students I was not expecting to win and was hoping we would just make States and win an award in one of the three aspects,” he said. “It was such a great feeling to win the Champions award, which represents excellence in all three areas. Now I have another opportunity to go to Worlds. I am really looking forward to Houston in April.”
If anyone would like to donate to Team Vipers to help with the expenses of attending Worlds (registration fees, innovation project, and travel), they can make a check out to Shelton Robotics (put “Vipers” in the memo line). Checks can be mailed to Shelton High School, 120 Meadow St. Shelton, CT 06484, c/o Michele Piccolo.