For the second time in three years, Jim Elliot Christian High School’s Robotics team has won the Davis-Sacramento Regional Robotics Competition of FIRST (see www.usfirst.org website to understand the breadth of this international competition). FIRST is an acronym that stands for: For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. FIRST’s mission:
“To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes.”
Dean Kamen, Founder of FIRST
Our team, which competes as Raptor Force Engineering, Team 1662, competed against 35 other robots from as far away as Idaho. Besides winning the over all competition Raptor Force also won the “Delphi Award for Innovative Technology”. This award was due to our robot’s design being so simple yet so effective.
This is truly a David and Goliath story. Our team, from the smallest school,does not have a cadre of adult Engineers assisting it as many others in the competition do. Also while most teams have sponsors like Google, Motorola, Ford, GM, Microsoft and a virtual “who’s who” of the technology world, Jim Elliot’s team is supported by dozens of small contributors and our own wallets. And yes, we have the Lord and He has been faithful.
The FIRST program is also a good source of scholarships and an extra advantage to admittance to colleges. This year 9.5 million dollars will be offered in scholarships through the program.
The Jim Elliot team now goes to Georgia to compete in the World Championships held in the Georgia Dome. In Georgia the winners from 41 regional events compete for the World Championship. What started out as 1,500 teams and 32,000 students from around the world now culminates in the competition of 490 teams and 12,000 students vying for the World Championship.
Twenty-two people from Elliot, team members and adults, will be traveling to Georgia for this competition at a cost of $800 per person. Our team is always looking for sponsors, not only for this year’s expenses but also for our future. Truly robotics is the future for so many business applications and industries. How proud we are that Jim Elliot Christian High School, indeed the only school in our county, is able to offer our students this opportunity to learn and excel in this field.
The team has received local recognition in both the Lodi News Sentinel (read story here) and The Record (here). You can watch the competition and get a taste of robotics and the JECHS victory in this video -
Congratulations JECHS Robotics!
This event at Davis was exciting! How marvelous that our small school of 200 is competing and winning against larger schools with sponsors such as Google and Microsoft, NASA, GM Xerox and more. This is amazing. These students have created an excellent robot and I am sure they will do very well in the international competition in Atlanta. Way to go Team 1662!
By: Jamie Howen on April 9, 2008
at 8:01 pm
Congratulations robotics team! God has blessed you with sharp minds and a gift of technology to reach this next generation for Christ! How awesome that a team that has only been running for four year would win at this level (twice) to go on to a National competition! Go JECHS!
By: Julie on April 17, 2008
at 6:45 pm