November 10

One week from today Teen will be leaving for Auburn, Alabama to compete in the B.E.S.T. Robotic's competition at Auburn University.

His high school technology and shop classes took 13 volunteer students and they built a robot, set up a presentation booth, video, brochure, presentation book and t-shirt. This is the first year that they have done this program.

In early October they went to Pittsburgh for a preliminary competition and did very well there. In fact some of the other schools were studying their robot to get ideas to improve their own.

On October 23rd they went to Grove City College and competed in the regional event. Although their robot didn't make it to the final round they place 2nd over all. They are not only judged on the robot and what it can do but also on the other factors from above (booth, video, t-shirt, etc).

The school administration could hardly believe that these kids who never worked together before did so well. And on Oct 25th the school board approved for all 13 students and their 2 teachers to travel to Auburn all expenses paid to compete at the National level. Only the first place robot and the first and second overall get to move on.

We are so proud of Teen and all the work he and his team have put into this project. Each of the students were in charge of a different aspect of the robot and Teen was in charge of programming it. This project has also encourage Teen to pursue programming and networking in college.

His school has also set up a web site to tell more about their robot and their adventures: Big Red Robots. Teen is the one on his knees in the group photo with their medals and trophy.

By the way B.E.S.T. stands for Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology.

Congrats Teen and the Big Red Robots Team! Good Luck in Auburn!

Stacy