PRESS & MEDIA

 

March 29, 2006

Regional Winners of FIRST Robotics Competition Receive Recognition for Outstanding Achievement

Teams Advance to Championship, Others Win Honors for Design, Sportsmanship, Partnership

 

On March 24 and 25, over 10,000 spectators gathered at Hofstra Arena, Hofstra University in Hempstead to watch 39 teams of high school students compete at the Long Island Regional competition to earn a spot at the FIRST USA Championship to be held April 27-29 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, “AIM HIGH” which is played with two alliances, one red and one blue, composed of three teams each, competing in each match. The object of the game is to attain a higher score than your opponent alliance by scoring balls in a center or corner goals, and/or by having robots on a platform at the end of the match.
Winners of the Long Island Regional awards include:

Award School
Regional Chairman's Award (highest award of the competition) Miller Place High School**
Regional Woodie Flowers Award Pat Hughes from Miller Place High School
Engineering Inspiration Award (second highest award of the competition) Aviation High School In Long Island City**
Regional Winners Alliance Hauppauge High School**
Southold High School**
Bayshore High School**
Regional Finalist Alliance Patchogue-Medford High School
Plainview-Old Bethpage High School
Hicksville High School
Highest Rookie Seed Port Washington High School
Rookie All Star Award (highest rookie award) Port Washington High School**
Rookie Inspiration Award Freeport High School
Daimler Chrysler Team Spirit Award William Floyd High School
Delphi "Driving Tomorrow's Technology" Award Hauppauge High School
General Motors Industrial Design Award Baldwin High School
Johnson & Johnson Sportsmanship Award Miller Place High School
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
Entrepreneurship 		Plainview Old Bethpage High School
Motorola Quality Award Mt. Sinai High School
Xerox Creativity Award Patchogue-Medford High School
Imagery Award Southold High School
Radio Shack Innovation in Control Award CT public & Technical School & Home Schooled Students
Web Site Design Award Newton High School, Elmhurst NY
Autodesk Visualization Award-Regional Longwood High School
Judge's Award(impact to their school's appreciation of, and knowledge in science and technology) Newton High School, Elmhurst NY
Westhampton Beach High School
Fred Breithut Award Isaiah Watson From Roosevelt High School
UL Industrial Safety Award West Islip High School
Safety Recognition Hicksville High School
Comsewogue High School
Port Washington 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.
**Denotes teams that qualify to participate in the National Championship to be held in Atlanta, GA.
***Descriptions of the criteria of each award are available upon request
****Photos from the event are available upon request.