BEAVERCREEK — Vault 6936 competed in its first championship competition in Michigan recently and placed 29th out of 67 in its division.
This is one of the many competitions to come for this innovative team of future engineers. The competition took place in Detroit at Cobo Center and Ford Field.
The competition had its largest attendance this year. More than 15,000 students from all around the world brought their best robots for a four-day event for the win. Participant students range from ages 6-18.
“The drive team performed just plain awesome with no mechanical issues,” Ross McNutt, Vault’s mentor and co-sponsor said. “The entire championship experience was truly incredible. There were 409 FRC teams that competed in six different divisions and the attendance was a record of over 40,000,”
The FIRST Championship is the World’s Largest event celebrating science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). It’s exciting for all involved and an honor to be apart of this championship event. Vault 6936, through its previous competitions, was invited to participate and didn’t wait a second to apply.
“FIRST set up numerous conferences and resources for teams to observe and attend — including a scholarship row and innovation fair which many of our students took the opportunity to visit,” McNutt said. “The matches were ‘world’ class and absolutely riveting. Teams from all over the world were at the event competing in FLL Jr, FLL, FTC & FRC. It was quite exciting to see all of the other teams and their incredible creations — from teams we have seen at our prior competitions to those from as far away as Japan, Taipei and Afghanistan. I hope that all of the students will remember this life-changing experience for years to come and use this to spread the message of FIRST and our team and the motivation to qualify for the Championship next season.”
The team had another competition — WOW District Championship at the Rike Center at Otterbein University in Westerville — in May. This competition featured the top 32 teams from Western Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
Although, the season has come to an end, Vault is already planning for the next. In order to raise the needed funds, the team will start fundraising efforts very soon. It has also created a GoFundMe page.
For more information or to join contact Vault by email at [email protected]. To send donations or sponsorships directly to the team, mail donations to RaiseSTEM cc: Vault6936, PO Box 178, Dayton, OH 45409. Visit the GoFundMe page at www.gofundme.com/high-school-robotics-vault-6936.
