by Lorri Giovinco-Harte

The Truman High School Gigabots compete at the Javits Center

On April 5, 2007, students from Harry S Truman High School competed in the New York City FIRST Tech Challenge at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. FIRST (For Inspiration of and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a non profit organization which partners with well known businesses as well as educational and governmental institution for the purpose of bringing science and technology opportunities to students everywhere.

The FIRST Challenge is defined as a “mid-level robotics competition for high-school students” that developed from the FIRST Robotics Competition and the FIRST Robovation platform. They began the contest in order to provide all students the opportunity to participate through the use of “a more accessible and affordable robotics kit.”

60 teams from the tri-state area competed in the event which was actually the first to be held in New York City. The teams were divided into two divisions and competed in five qualifying rounds. Top teams from these rounds continued to compete through quarter, semi, and final rounds.

Several students from the Truman High School Engineering program entered the competition, which required them to first design and build a robot using the Vex Robotics Design System. In addition, the students were required to record and explain each stage of the design and construction in an Engineering Notebook. Teams who did not have notebooks were not permitted to enter the competition, as FIRST places a great deal of emphasis on the “journey” that students take to get to the competition as well as their ability to explain this journey in well written form.

On April 5, the students competed with other teams in the “Chad Quandary,” a game in which two robots compete with each other for the purpose of placing rings onto goals. The robots must do so both autonomously, by means of a team -created program, as well as by a “driver” who operates the robot by remote control.

At the end of the day, winners were announced in several categories which included Amaze, Motivate, Innovate, Connect, Think, Division finalist, Championship finalist, championship winner, and Inspire. The members of the Truman team were delighted to learn that they had won the “Think” award for the work that they had detailed in their Engineering Journal. The judges had the following to say about the students’ work:
“While many teams had professional looking notebooks, this team took theirs to the next level. Through the use of photos and diagrams, they accentuated every day of the season.”

The team consisted of the following members, all of whom were thrilled to learn of their win; Desmond Bailey, Jonathan McAdams, Chima Ukawand, Martin Richard, Elicieo Flores, and Amida Sandy. McAdams, who is a freshman at Truman High School explained that were all really excited in addition to being “really surprised because it was our first year in the competition.”

Several days later, the team received more good news; their win had qualified them to participate in the World Championship Tournament, which will take place in Atlanta Georgia.

Truman High School Principal, Sana Q Nasser expressed that she was “Overjoyed” to learn of the team’s eligibility. She continued to explain that she is “not surprised,” that the students did so well. “They are an extremely hardworking group of young people.”

The trip to Atlanta will require a considerable amount of money, so Principal Nasser turned to some of her partners in the educational and private communities. Charlie Bendit and Paul Neuman of PENCIL contributed $3,500 between them and The Center for Innovative Education, the school’s PSO partner contributed $2,200.