PRESS & MEDIA
March 22, 2004
Regional Winners of FIRST Robotics Competition Receive Recognition for Outstanding Achievement
Teams Advance to Championship, Others Win Honors for Design, Sportsmanship, Partnership
On March 19 and 20, over 10,000 spectators gathered at Suffolk County Community College's Michael J. Grant Campus in Brentwood to watch 37 teams of high school students compete at the Long Island Regional competition to earn a spot at the Championship held April 15-17 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA. Several teams received honors and recognition that rewarded design excellence, competitive play, sportsmanship and high-impact partnerships between schools, businesses and communities.
"The winners demonstrated tremendous teamwork, professionalism and strategic thinking to overcome the challenges of the competition," said Fred Breithut, President of the School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, sponsors of the Long Island Regional FIRST Competition. "The fun and excitement of the competition was evident as many students, professional mentors, school groups and community members caught the spirit and came to cheer on their favorite teams as engineering and technology at work surpassed the excitement of a championship athletic event."
With the hope of winning one of several coveted awards, high school students worked with professional mentors to design and build a robot that solves a problem using a kit of parts and a standard set of rules. The students gathered to compete with their robots in this year's game, "First Frenzy" which took place on a playing field with a mix of robot and human players. Robots earned points by placing balls into goals, with extra points given to teams who ended the round with their robot hanging from the pull-up bar in the center of the field.
Winners of the Long Island Regional awards include:
| Award | School |
| Regional Chairman's Award | West Islip High School |
| Regional Woodie Flowers Award | Brian Buonomo |
| Engineering Inspiration Award | East Islip High School |
| Regional Winner-1 | East Islip High School |
| Regional Winner-2 | General Motors of Canada St. Catharines Engine & Governor Simcoe Secondary School |
| Regional Winner-3 | Clarkson University & Massena High School & Salmon River High School |
| 1st Regional Finalist | Pierson High School |
| 2nd Regional Finalist | East Meadow School District |
| 3rd Regional Finalist | Smithtown High School |
| Highest Rookie Award | Hicksville High School |
| Daimler Chrysler Team Spirit Award | Shrewsbury High School |
| Delphi "Driving Tomorrow's Technology" Award | General Motors of Canada St. Catharines Engine & Governor Simcoe Secondary School |
| General Motors Industrial Design Award | Mt. Sinai School District |
| Johnson & Johnson Sportsmanship Award | Hauppauge High School |
| Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship | William Floyd High School |
| Motorola Quality Award | East Meadow School District & WT Clarke High School |
| Xerox Creativity Award | Southold Jr. Sr. High School |
| Imagery Award | East Islip High School |
| Leadership in Control Award | Hauppauge High School |
| Web Site Design Award | Shrewsbury High School |
| Autodesk Visualization Award-Regional | General Motors of Canada St. Catharines Engine & Governor Simcoe Secondary School |
| Rookie All-Star Award | Hicksville High School |
| Rookie Inspiration Award | Hicksville High School |
* The Chairman's Award is the most prestigious award of the event and recognizes the team that embodies the goals and purpose of FIRST and best represents a model for other teams to emulate.
* Descriptions of the criteria of each award are available upon request.
**Photos from the event are available upon request