Having returned from FIRST Championships at the end of April, members of 1816 are scrambling to catch up on sleep, school, and everything else that was suspended for robotics. This year, with 30 new members, we brought our largest contingent of team members-ever to St Louis. In the pool of over 600 FRC teams, we were in competition for the Entrepreneurship Award, the Engineering Inspiration award, and the most prestigious award of FIRST, the Chairman’s award. On Curie field, we were the first pick in the fifth-seeded alliance and finished seventh overall in the quarterfinals.
We were also incredibly honored to have one of our long-term mentors, Mark Lawrence, receive the national Woodie Flowers Award, presented by the co-founder of FIRST, Woodie Flowers, and the 2014 national winner, Lane Matheson. Mr. Lawrence has been involved with Team 1816 since the formation of our team in fall of 2005, and serves as chairman of the Minnesota FIRSTRegional Planning committee. Speaking of Minnesota FIRST, we were quite possibly the loudest cheering section ever from way up high in the Edward Jones Dome as we yelled ourselves hoarse for FRC Teams 2512 – Duluth East Daredevils and 2526 – Maple Grove Crimson when they made it to Einstein, the first Minnesota teams ever make it to the final rounds of the Championship competition!
Although the 2015 Recycle Rush season is winding down rapidly, we still look forward to seeing our Minnesota FRC teams at the MSHSL State Championship. Come support 1816, our fellow Minnesota FRC teams and help us say goodbye to our 10th anniversary, game robot, and seniors(!) on May 16th at Williams Arena, University of Minnesota campus.