From Richard Scearce

The Mount Vernon Robotics Club performed well this past Saturday in Bettendorf. Both teams made it to the finals and, therefore, each won a Finalist Alliance Trophy. The teams also received the following recognition:

Team 458, Activate Go Initiative!, was awarded a trophy for winning a major award, the Motivate Award (see award criteria below). A major factor in winning this award was a small robot built and programmed by Robert Banwart that is controlled with a glove. Team 458 was also nominated for the Connect Award. The team, left to right in attached picture, consists of Ellen Holland, Jared Jackson, Alex White, Josh Feldman, Paul Chihak, Robert Banwart, and Project Manager Hunter Lind.

Team 3549, Born to be Wired, placed third in the Inspire Award, which is the highest award given. The team, left to right in attached picture, consists of Gage Lochner, Kai Walberg, Everett Thompson, Josh Lynch, Mackenzie Smith, Isiah Exley-Schuman, Liz Kamerling, M’Lynn Kurtz, Project Manager Macon, and Drew Keller.

The team is coached by Richard Scearce and mentored by Gary Scott, Dave Keller, Chris Lyon, and DeAnn Scearce.

Mark your calendars for the FTC-Iowa State Tournament, which both Mount Vernon teams have qualified for and will be competing in Saturday, February 23, 2013 at the Iowa Memorial Union in Iowa City.

MOTIVATE AWARD

This judged award celebrates the team that exemplifies the essence of the FIRST Tech Challenge competition through team spirit and enthusiasm. They show their spirit through costumes and fun outfits, a team cheer or outstanding spirit. This team has also made a collective effort to make FIRST known throughout their school and community.

CONNECT AWARD

This judged award is given to the team that most connected with their local community and the engineering community. A true FIRST team is more than a sum of its parts, and recognizes that their schools and communities play an essential part to their success. The recipient of this award is recognized for helping the community understand FIRST, the FIRST Tech Challenge, and the team itself. The team that wins this award is aggressively seeking engineers and exploring the opportunities available in the world of engineering, science and technology.  In addition, this team has a clear fundraising goal and plan to achieve that goal.

FIRST TECH CHALLENGE INSPIRE AWARD

This formally judged award is given to the team that truly embodied the ‘challenge’ of the FTC program. The team that receives this award is chosen by the judges as having best represented a ‘role model’ FIRST Tech Challenge Team. This team is a top contender for all other judging categories and is a strong competitor on the field. The Inspire Award Winner is an inspiration to other teams, acting with Gracious Professionalism™ both on and off the playing field. This team understands how to communicate their experiences and knowledge to other teams, sponsors, and the judges.