FRC team 5587 makes it to the world championships for the second time
Abigail Ernst
Editor
Alexandria City High School’s Robotics team made it to the FIRST Robotics Championships in Houston, Texas. The team was founded in 2015, and this will be their second championship trip, their first being the 2019 World Championship in Detroit, Michigan, where they qualified by winning the Engineering Inspiration award.
Mechanical Lead Nicole Feldman said, “The last time Worlds was in one place was in 2016, and then it got split into two locations– which isn’t necessarily a bad thing– but because every team was in the same place, we got to see arguably the best teams in the world play, and cheer on not only our robot, but the other robots from the Chesapeake District.” This allowed the team to meet and communicate with other FRC teams from around the world, an opportunity that does not come often.
FRC team 5587 has had an outstanding 2022 season including a win at the FIRST Chesapeake District Greater DC Event. To make it to the world championship, the team won the FIRST Chesapeake District Championship Chairman’s Award. The Chairman’s award is one of the most prestigious awards within FIRST and is presented to the team that best displays the mission of FIRST. This includes active community involvement by offering opportunities for people to learn more about STEM education, leadership, as well as other characteristics.
Freshman Team member Melana Walker said, “Finding out that we were going to worlds at our regional competition was a very surreal moment. It was the culmination of all of the work that our non-technical team has done.”
Additionally, Chief Operating Officer Neil Gascon said, “When the team won The Chairman’s Award at District Championships (an equivalent to a regional), I was starstruck at the achievement that we pulled off. Prior to its announcement, I was somewhat worried about our chances of winning the award. We were the youngest team to compete for the award, and our competition included some teams that started in the 2000s, double the lifespan of our team. As such, we were the underdogs, the new kids on the block, the team who, if we won the award, would bring about a historic moment within our Chesapeake region. And we did that, and I was so proud of my team’s effort in receiving it!”
In Houston, the team did not win, however, “it was the perfect ending to this season and my time on the team. Our drivers were able to show off their skill and just how in-sync they are, ” Feldman said.
“The type of caliber of teams at worlds is so much higher than in our district, so watching the best of the best was awesome. That’s one of the differences between Houston and Detroit – Detroit only had some of the good teams, while Houston had all of them. We were to interact with people from California, Texas, Israel, Australia, and so many other countries,” said Programming Lead Isabel Cruz Rivera.
Outreach Lead Nicolas Kruse said, “My favorite part of the trip was the sense of community; for all of us in that convention center, our interests and love of STEM brought us together not to compete against each other but to express our love of robots.”
Photo Courtesy of Titan Robotics
