Team 250: Then and Now

After a successful season last year, everyone involved is anxious to start once again. Trying to trump what was achieved will be a difficult task, but it is a challenge I know that we can handle. As KWeiler said before, there is no better feeling than seeing what you worked on for six long weeks finally roll out onto the field and compete in matches. Well, that...and seeing it go out there and win match after match!

The amount of work and effort put into last year's robot, which we named Glen, is almost unfathomable. When it came time for our first competition at RIT, we had a more than capable team to begin competing. By the end of the first day we were in fifth place and ready to win a few more matches.

As the last day of competition was winding down, we had made it into the finals with our alliance with Teams 191 and 211. We put up a very tough fight, but came just short of winning gold. We left Rochester with a Silver Medal, the Industrial Safety Award and a Special Judges' Award for creative fund-raising.

Two weeks later Team 250 was at Drexel University in Philadelphia to try one more time to claim the Gold Medal. Glen had taken a few good hits at RIT, so he was not in top condition when we first arrived. Overall though, by the last day of competition we found ourselves once again in the finals.

After yet another tough struggle, we were only cut short a few seconds from winning Gold and left with another Silver. Also during our competition, we won a second Safety Award, being one of only two teams worldwide to do so that year.

So after everything was said and done, the season ended with two Silver Medals, two Safety Awards, and a Judges' Award. This year we will be returning to RIT in March to compete with 32 other Teams, and we will be foregoing the Philadelphia competition to instead compete at the National Championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in April. Wish us Luck!