This past weekend, Team 341, Miss Daisy traveled to the 2015 FIRST Robotics World Championship in St. Louis, Missouri.
The team was placed in the Curie Division, going head-to-head with some of the best teams in the world. Our students were able to meet 606 other teams from around the globe, including Canada, Mexico, Israel, China, Turkey, Taiwan, Netherlands, and Australia. At the end of qualification matches, the team placed 25th out of 76 teams on Friday. Our robot performed well, making many stacks of totes with other teams able to place recycling containers on top.
Highlights of the trip included a very special Hall of Fame luncheon where we ate pizza and rubbed shoulders with FIRST President, Don Bossi, FIRST Co-Founder, Woodie Flowers, and FIRST FRC Director, Frank Merrick. It was a great experience to be able to socialize with our fellow Hall of Fame teams and have our picture taken with such esteemed individuals. Grant Imahara, from Myth Busters, also stopped by for a meet-and-greet and photos with the teams. Daises unwound at night by attending the 9th annual RoboProm and also tapped into their younger selves at the City Museum.
By far the most rewarding experiences that came from the weekend were the chances our students had to talk to our sponsors and students from other teams. By the end of the weekend, Daisies had been able to talk to people from DOW, Comcast, FedEx, SolidWorks, Boeing, among others. Everyone welcomed us with open arms and even the judges commented on how amazing our team was and how much effort we had put in to our robot this year.
Thanks to all the coaches and mentors who accompanied the team and worked tirelessly through all four days of competition: Mr. Ostrow, Sean, Nick, Adam, Kristian, Lou, and Tom. Its because of you that everything went so smoothly!
