CHS Robotics Team Wins Second Impact Award

Ethan Holly

Forty teams with over 1400 student competitors gathered at Lake City High School this past weekend to battle it out in the FIRST Robotics Competition. When the dust had settled Chelsea High School’s team 1502 stood tall in the playoffs of this robust event.

Each year, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) competitions give teams only six short weeks to build a robot from scratch and complete the entire engineering design process, from brainstorming to designing concepts to manufacturing the final design.

Students gain not only engineering experience but also get to collaborate on a major design project and practice numerous leadership skills on the student-run team. In addition, FIRST is about more than just robots. It connects people’s talents and experiences together to create wonders.

During the event team 1502 won the Impact Award. The FIRST Impact Award is the most prestigious award in the FIRST Robotics Competition. It recognizes a team that reflects sustained excellence and impact within the FIRST community and beyond, acting as ambassadors by sharing their legacy as Hall of Fame members. This award honors a team that best represents a model for others to emulate and embodies the mission of FIRST. The only way to get into the hall of fame is to win the Impact Award at worlds so the qualifier win is a step in the right direction!

This year team 1502 decided to make their impact international by starting the first ever Hungarian team. Hungary’s Team 10609’s first competition was in Marmara, Türkiye as a rookie team on March 7-9.

Team 1502’s next event will be at Saline high school on March 21-23. Tickets are free.