Liberty Robo-Lions Return From Championship, Need Practice Space

Liberty High School Science teacher and Robo-Lions team mentor Rose Young updates Patch below on how her team competed at the First Robotics Championship and outgrowing their practice space. 

Patch caught up with the Robo-Lions in Missouri here. Find a preview and behind the scenes footage of the Robo-Lions preparing for competition here. 

During the Championship, teams play 10 qualifying rounds on one of four fields.  A total of over 350 teams compete, and one alliance of three advances from each field for the final to determine the alliance that is named Champion. On our field, we had a 2-2 start the first day, but fell to 2-8 by the end. 

The team played very well, scoring in every match (sometimes nearly all the points for the match), but we were outgunned by some really impressive robots.  The alliance that won the championship was from our division, so we know we played against the very best the competition had to offer. 

What made me most proud of the team was the way they constantly told me about new plans for next year - they were so inspired by this trip that they are determined to go back bigger and better.

I'm excited about our future, and so are the kids.

Another source of pride was our Dean's List finalist, Alex Bratchie, who got the chance to meet with Dean Kamen and Woodie Flowers. We also have a scholarship winner, Johnathan Mayo. He won the University of Maryland/BAE Systems Scholarship. 

We were met with another significant challenge during our trip. Unfortunately we were notified during the championship that the donated space we use for our FLL and FRC teams has been leased. We must vacate the facility in two weeks. We see this as an opportunity for the teams to mature, build a long term plan, and possibly embark upon a new course for STEM emphasis in the area.

We are meeting this week to discuss our plans, and we are confident this setback will be temporary. It illustrates one of the primary challenges to FRC teams - space! We long ago outgrew our school facilities, and we just continue to get bigger. It's a good problem to have, in one sense.