The halls of Suffern High School will be filled with technology hobnobbing Sunday as robotics teams from across the Lower Hudson Valley face off.
This weekend gathering — January 12 — will see 24 robotics teams gather for the Lower Hudson FIRST Tech Challenge Qualifying Tournament at Suffern High School, which is hosting the event for the very first time — a bit of Rockland history.
Members of the Suffern High School robotics team prepare for competition.
If you have a hankering for invention and want to see what robotics is all about — Sunday’s event is a perfect introduction and will feature all sorts of fantastical contraptions, with wildly creative moving parts.
The FIRST Tech Challenge Qualifying Tournament is the main robotics road to the World Championships, slated for April in St. Louis, MO. The event is a big indicator of the rise of Suffern’s robotics program headed up by faculty advisor and Suffern High School math teacher George Mugno. Suffern has been making great strides over the past several season, with teams even competing at the team FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship, held last spring at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.
Happy members of Suffern’s High School robotics team pose after winning a competition in spring of 2013.
FTC teams are comprised of students in grades 7-12 who work collaboratively to design, build and program robots for alliance competition with the guiding ethos of Gracious Professionalism. Sunday’s teams will Teams have the opportunity to win judged awards based on their engineering notebooks and panel interviews. Volunteer referees and judges include tech professionals from UPS and Artgig studio, alumni of Suffern High School’s engineering program and STEM supporters from across the Lower Hudson Valley.
The top six performers in Sunday’s qualifier will advance with the chance of ultimately earning a berth in the 2014 FTC World Championships slated, again, for April in St. Louis.
This event is free and open to the public.
Registered teams include Suffern High School, Blind Brook High School, Corning Incorporated, Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson, Green Meadow Waldorf School, Horace Mann School, Warwick Valley High School and Buffalo Academy of Science.
Qualification matches start at 10:30am; eliminations will begin mid-afternoon. Winning teams will be awarded in a ceremony at 5pm. Suffern High School is located at 49 Viola Road in Suffern, NY.
Event schedule
7:45am – 8:00am Team check-in, pits open
8:00am – 10:00am Inspections, practice matches & judged team interviews
10:00am – 10:10am Drivers’ meeting
10:15am – 10:30am Opening Ceremony
10:30am – 12:30pm Qualification Matches
12:30pm – 1:15pm Lunch break
1:15pm – 3:00pm Qualification Matches
3:15pm – 3:25pm Alliance Selection
3:30pm – 5:00pm Eliminations & Finals
5:00pm – 5:15pm Awards and Closing Ceremony
21 teams representing the following schools/organizations:
Blind Brook High School
Buffalo Academy of Science
Corning Incorporated
Crossfire Consulting
Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson
Green Meadow Waldorf School
Horace Mann School
Kennedy Catholic High School
Kingswood Oxford School
Minuteman Robotics
Pleasantville High School
The Tech Center at PNW BOCES
Red Hook Central School
Riverside Engineering & Design High School
Rye Country Day School
Suffern High School
Warwick Valley High School
