The robotics team at Vision Charter in Caldwell is crushing the competition. They were the first ever Idaho team to win a regional “First Tech Challenge” competition when hosted in Idaho, and now they are on their way to the national competition.
"We'll be competing in the super regional west competition against over 70 teams in the west who've won or succeeded in their championships," Hannah Samuelson, senior and team manager said.
"I feel like we are going to do really good, I have a lot of confidence in our team, I believe that we can actually make it to world," Ty Collins, freshman and builder said.
First Tech Challenge is a program where students build, program and operate robots in competitions.
"First and FTC is a big time commitment but it's definitely worth your while," Collins said.
The batch of freshman through seniors has spent hundreds of hours perfecting their robot to collect, corral and dump debris into buckets to score points in competitions.
For some, it’s competition that drives them but for Samuelson, joining STEM programs are a path to her end goal.
"One day I would like to work on automated industrial processes," Samuelson said.
STEM is helping her get there.
"Everything you learn in class, math, science, chemistry that sort of thing, physics, you think when am I ever going to use this in real life?” Samuelson said. “First gives you that outlet to do that.”
The next competition is just weeks away but even with all the fundraising to get to California, they’re still about $4,000 short.
If you would like to help them they have a GoFundMe account set up.
