Orlando Science Schools (OSS) high school robotics team took home some “hardware” at this year’s FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) held recently in Orlando. OSS’s entry 4013 Clockwork Mania earned the team the Imagery, the Woodie Flowers Finalist and the Orlando Regional Chairman’s Award. The robotics students at Orlando Science Schools, a public charter school in Orange County that serves grades K-12 and focuses on STEM education, represented the only team to win three awards.
The Orlando Regional Chairman’s Award is the most prestigious honor at FIRST. The win also merits the team an invitation to participate in the FIRST Robotics World Championship taking place in St. Louis April 23-26th. The participants will compete for the Championship Chairman’s Award against more than 60 teams from across the world.
“We are overjoyed for this opportunity to travel to St. Louis and compete as a team,” said OSS Robotics Advisor Maribel Barea. “The excitement the students experience at competitions has a positive effect on the entire school and it motivates all of us to work hard and strive for success.”
In addition, Robotics Team Advisor Barea earned the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award. The award submission is completed by the robotics team, which makes it a special honor and testament to the admiration Barea gained from her students through her dedication to the team.
Barea’s group continued to set the bar high for their competitors when they won the Imagery Award. The students were recognized for their outstanding engineering, design, team costumes and integration of the theme throughout the robot design.
OSS high school students who participated in the FRC competition included:
- Carlos Barea
- Sebastian Orellana
- Edwin Cruz
- Martin Granger
- Colin Chaney
- Dennis Berrios
- Beth Martin
- Alesha Webb
- Daniella Gutierrez
- Daniel Stetzinger
- Sebastian Gonzalez
- Nikhil Mahalanobis
- Evan Garms
- Michael Anderson
- Dominic Canora
- Gorkem Aksu
“The quality of the engineering and design of the robot is far beyond what I imagined possible,” said Orlando Science Schools Executive Director Dr. Yalcin Akin. “It is just amazing what this talented group of enthusiastic students can achieve when they work together as a team.”
