The Umatilla School District is celebrating the success of its middle school robotics teams as they advance to the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) State Championships in Hillsboro. After a competitive qualifying event held in Umatilla, OR on Saturday, January 25, three Umatilla FTC teams secured their spots at the state level, with the potential to move on to the FIRST World Championships in Houston, Texas this March.
The qualifying tournament in Umatilla hosted 15 teams from Clara Brownell Middle School, with a total of 85 students demonstrating their skills in engineering, coding, and teamwork.
The three Umatilla teams who earned their place at the FTC State Championships were:
Inspire Award Winner: Team 7470 Mystery Bots
Winning Alliance Captain: Team 15435 Femgineers
Winning Alliance Partner: Team 17366 Giraffe Guardians
The Inspire Award, the highest honor at the competition, is given to a team that best embodies the spirit of FIRST by excelling in robot design, programming, community outreach, and teamwork. Winning this award secured the Mystery Bots a direct qualification to the State Championship.
The Winning Alliance Captain and Winning Alliance Partner titles are awarded to teams that perform exceptionally well in match play and collaborate effectively in alliance strategy. The Femgineers and Giraffe Guardians secured their advancement by demonstrating strong performance throughout the tournament and working strategically within their alliance to win the final playoff match.
Additionally, seven other awards were presented to teams that demonstrated excellence in various aspects of the competition:
Design Award Winner: Team 17368 Lab Rats
Motivate Award Winner: Team 28838 Autobots
Control Award Winner: Team 7474 Deewalt
Innovate Award Winner (Sponsored by RTX): Team 7498 Shed Boys
Connect Award Winner: Team 17366 Giraffe Guardians
Think Award Winner: Team 7497 The IDKs
2nd Place Inspire Award Winner: Team 7498 Shed Boys
To learn more about each award, please visit https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/ftc/awards.
The three Umatilla teams advancing to the State Championships will compete against 48 other middle school and high school teams from across Oregon. This event will determine which four teams will qualify for the FIRST World Championships, set to take place in Houston, Texas, this March.
Middle school robotics teacher, Caden Sipe, stated, “I am incredibly proud of all the teams who competed this year. Our top teams showcased exceptional dedication, spending countless hours after school refining their robots and perfecting their presentations. Their hard work truly paid off, and we can’t wait to see them excel at the state championship.”
View more photos of the competition here.