In 2015 the robotics team made it past qualifiers securing a place at the Monrovia Regional qualifiers and winning the Rockwell Collins Innovation Award.

“I think that we will be facing the challenges we face every year, getting new members, retaining new members, while at the same time increasing our competitiveness at tournaments,” said junior programming lead Eric Frankel.

Now the team is trying to prove they can uphold the legacy of winning an award every season, but because of core members graduating, this is the year that First Tech Challenge team will have to prove they have what it takes.

Bringing writers and artists in to help, “we are trying to show that everyone has a place within this team,”  said robotics team captain, senior Theo Evers. “There are things that can be engaging for each and every person at the school.”

The team has numerous challenges it needs to overcome like recruiting fresh talent to fill in the gaps left by graduates. Often times other teams are three to four times larger. Without a larger team the squad is handicapped competing at the same level.

“I want to know that this team will win a match the year after I graduate,” Evers said.“This is to some degree what I want, in the two years that I’ve led the team and in the four years I’ve been on the year, I want to know that we have built something that will last into the future.

“I’ll consider it to be most successful if the club is large enough that we will always have enough members to fuel FTC and First Robotic Challenge teams, and that we are are fielding robotics,” Evers said.  “Would I like to go to super regionals and worlds, of course. But that’s not in my control; building a club up that can last a few more years is something that I can control.“