Community Corner
CSPA High School FIRST Robotics Team Qualifies for World Championships
Last week, at the FIRST Robotics State competition held at Eastern Michigan University, the team from Charyl Stockwell Preparatory Academy (CSPA) High School in Brighton qualified to compete in the World Championship Competition in St. Louis later this month.
In only their third year of existence, the CSPA High School team GEMS (#4362) has had what can only be described as a remarkable season. In mid March, the team competed in the first of two qualifying events at Parker Middle School in Howell. They placed 6th of the 40 teams competing and earned the FIRST Motorola Quality Award for robust design and use of materials as well as a recognition award from another team for Outstanding Student-Run Team.
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Two weeks later, GEMS added to their points at the second qualifying event at Livonia’s Churchill High School. There, the team had another outstanding showing, ultimately placing 7th among the 40 teams competing and winning the General Motors Industrial Design Award. At both qualifying events, GEMS competed against teams from significantly larger schools with many more years of experience and greater operating budgets.
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At the end of all of the Michigan qualifying events, GEMS ranked 33rd among the 277 FIRST Robotics teams in the state. They had enough points to qualify them to compete in the state championship last weekend at Eastern Michigan University, the only Livingston County team to do so.
At EMU, GEMS finished in 20th place and again won the General Motors Industrial Design Award, this time at the state level. They garnered enough points to qualify for the World Championship in St. Louis that starts on April 23.
The CSPA High School GEMS Robotics Team is led by CSPA High School science teacher Heather Vingsness and consists of 17 high school students and ten adult mentors. The team started building their robot in January after FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) announced this year’s game. During the next six weeks, students built and programmed their robot whose tasks including moving within a designated field and tossing as many large exercise balls as possible into goals.
“It’s absolutely amazing!” said CSPA Principal Steven Beyer. “Our kids are excited and for a school of our size to be competing at this level is a dream come true for the kids and the families and for our school. And the fact that it’s an academic competition and our school is a preparatory school and focused on academics makes it even sweeter.”