Superintendent of Schools
Dr. Mark Scott
Board Members
Helen Hughes, Vice Chairman
Lori Johnson
Dr. Rick Unruh
Mr. Fred Wilson, Chairman
Dave Crockett
Hoke Morrow
Bryan Upshaw
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: APRIL 17, 2017
(Release #2016/17 – 278)
Contact: Beth McLaughlin, Director of Community & School Affairs, 478-988-6390, ext. 0, [email protected]
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Robotics Team Wins 2nd Seed in State & Advances to World
HOUSTON COUNTY, GA –
The Houston County
Alliance Robotics Team
competed in the FIRST (For
Inspiration and Recognition
of Science and Technology)
Robotics Georgia State
Championship held in
Athens, Ga. April 6-8. The
team won the second seed
by placing second after 45
state finalist teams
completed 90 qualifying
matches. Houston County’s
Alliance team now advances
to the world competition
and will compete April 19-22 in Houston, Texas.
Since 2011, Houston’s Robotics team, the Flying Legion, has invited students from all five high
schools to participate. The team is led by Houston County Career Academy Engineering,
Manufacturing, and Electronics Teacher William Smith, Jr., Northside High physics teacher Tom
Stahl, Veterans High math teacher Dr. Li Ma, Houston County High special education science
teacher Renetha Newman and local engineer mentors.
FIRST Robotics competitions combine the excitement of sports with the rigors of science,
technology, engineering and math (STEM). Under strict rules, limited resources and time limits,
teams of 25 students or more are challenged to raise funds, design a team "brand," hone teamwork
skills, and build and program robots to perform prescribed tasks against a field of competitors. It is
as close to "real-world engineering" as a student can get. Professionals volunteer their time and
talents to guide each team, to include several engineers from Robins Air Force Base and Honeywell.
MORE
P.O. Box 1850 • Perry, Georgia 31069
(478) 988-6200 • Fax (478) 988-6259
www.hcbe.net
Robotics Team Wins 2nd Seed in State & Advances to World / page 2 of 3
"It’s our first time qualifying for world! I’m so proud of my students as well as our team’s teachers,
mentors and parents. We came together as a team to make this happen and could not have done it
without the tremendous support of our school district and community sponsors.”
In addition to the Houston County Board of Education, the Flying Legion’s sponsors for state were:
American Pride Bank, Belk Matthews, Booz Allen Hamilton, CB&T, Central Georgia Technical College,
Department of Defense STEM, Dixie Crows, L3, McNeal Agency, Robins Regional Chamber’s
Aerospace Industry Committee, Southwest Research Institute and Tricore Management. These
sponsors are also supporting the trip to the world event along with: Graphic Packaging, Health Tech
of Georgia, International City Optimist Club, Robins Financial Credit Union and more.
The 2017 team members are pictured (in no particular order). Nineteen team members qualified
this year to participate in competitions and 14 are going to world. Students are listed below by
school, with those who competed at state marked with an asterisk (*).
•
Houston County High: Abrial Currie*, Richard Day, Jonathan Pegues, Sean Pursely*, Austin
Schmitz, David Senseney*, Peter Senseney*, Lawson Smith and Rickey Weston*.
•
Northside High: Jared Oberlin* and Trevor Pope.
•
Veterans High: Ashley Bishop*, Bruno Grosskopf, Camden Hawkins*, Nicholas Jenkins*, Will
Jones*, Natalie Van Slyke*, Dakota Wilkes* and Tom Williams*.
Mentors include: Robins Air Force Base engineers Michael Day and David Gentry; and Honeywell
engineer Bruno Grosskopf.
The team had six weeks to design, fabricate and build the robot, which they named “Czar
Crabby.” Students, teachers and mentors met on Tuesday and Thursday evenings for two
hours and on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. during a six-week period to design, build
and program their unique robot to perform the specific skills required this year.
Smith commented, "The robotics team contributes to STEM education and fosters teamwork,
perseverance and comradery. Each member has a role and works together to make it successful.”
The mascot is a unique griffon, that reflects the mascots of all five
high schools. The griffon head and front claws represent the
Northside Eagles and Veterans Warhawks; the hind legs with padded
feet are for the Houston County Bears; the whip of a tail is for the
Perry Panthers; and the pitchfork is for the Warner Robins Demons.
The team is always seeking returning and new sponsors to help cover
the costs to compete. Entry fees alone cost $5,000 each at each level,
requiring $15,000 this year for the team to advance from district to
state to world. The world competition in Texas alone will cost about
$15,000 total.
The Flying Legion’s team and robot are pictured at state. For more information or to sponsor the
team, please contact Smith at 478-322-3280. More information is also posted online at
www.flyinglegion3635.org and https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc. Read about the World
Championship here: FIRST Championship: Houston.
MORE
P.O. Box 1850 • Perry, Georgia 31069
(478) 988-6200 • Fax (478) 988-6259
www.hcbe.net
Robotics Team Wins 2nd Seed in State & Advances to World / page 3 of 3
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P.O. Box 1850 • Perry, Georgia 31069
(478) 988-6200 • Fax (478) 988-6259
www.hcbe.net