Middle School Robotics Wins Tournament

The Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton (SHS) Middle School Robotics Team “Monké” won the NorCal FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) San Jose Qualifying Tournament this week and will head to the NorCal Regionals next month. “Monké” is one of four teams making up the eighth grade robotics elective class taught by Ben Howe, Lower and Middle School Creativity Hub teacher.

 

“Regionals are like a state championship, and the next level is ‘worlds’ in Houston, Texas,” said Howe.

 

Ultimately, the robotics class won four trophies at the tournament, including:

 

Team “Monké”

Angela He (SHP ’27), Julianne Ho (SHP ’27), Sean Kurian (SHP ’27), and William Speiser (SHP ’27)

 

Team “Milk”

Rehaan Mehta (SHP ’27), Laurence Pan (SHP ’27), Siva Ravi (SHP ’27), and Mark Shen (SHP ’27)

 

Team “Wall-e”

Zade Azmeh (SHP ’27), Abigail Dusane (SHP ’27), Esan Khan (SHP ’27), and Alexandra Krna (SHP ’27)

 

The control award—recognizing the use of sensors and software—received by team “Monké,” was assisted in elimination rounds by alliance partner team “Fard Odor Company,” with team members Daran Bavandpouri (SHP ’27), Dominic Pi-Sunyer (SHP ’27), Andrew Radzilowski (SHP ’27), and Ollie Rogers (SHP ’27). The team is on a list of alternates that could be selected to go to regionals.

 

Also notable was team “Milk”—recipient of the Design Award recognizing the best functional and aesthetic design—which finished ranked 1st after 20 qualification matches were played. The teams are randomly selected for five different games that they play in pairs with different alliance partners to determine ranks for semis and finals. Team “Monké” was ranked 2nd, Team “Fard Odor Company” was 6th, and Team “Wall-e,” which won the Connect Award celebrating community and diversity in engineering, placed 10th.

 

“The teams each had defined plans and were determined to achieve their goals,” said Howe. “Many members are especially dedicated, and work on robotics during their lunch breaks and on weekends. With this kind of attitude, they’ll go far in the competition world and be ready for higher-level FIRST tournaments in high school.”