SEM FTC Robotics advances to State and Worlds Championships

By Ethan

On Febuary 23, 2019, SEM Robotics sent three teams to the fifty two team North Texas Regional Championship, the largest showing of any school.

Left to right: Jose Lomeli, Arjun Vikram, Abhijit Bhattaru, Ben Bruick, Bhanaviya Venkat, Evan Daane, Karina Lara, Charlotte Leakey, Jana Chadha, Kenna Tanaka, Justin Bonsell and Ethan Helfman

Iron Reign, SEM's varsity team, won 1st place Motivate award and 3rd place Inspire, advancing them to both the State UIL and Worlds Championships in April. The Motivate award recognizes teams who demonstrate exceptional community service, and in this case, was for Iron Reign's continued expansion of the Mobile Learning Lab program. In addition, the Inspire award is given to teams who represent the spirit of the FIRST program: outstanding not only in robot game, but also engineering processes, connecting with professionals, innovative designs and supporting other teams.

Individually, Karina Lara and Justin Bonsell were recognized as FIRST Dean's List Semi-Finalists. Named after FIRST Founder Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway and the portable dialysis machine, Dean's List students are considered leaders in their community who exemplify the ideals of FIRST while achieving technical excellence. Karina Lara was then announced as one of four Dean's List Finalists who will go on the represent North Texas at the FTC World Championship.

Imperial Robotics, our other veteran team, medaled when they made it to the final round of the Regional Championship through their exceptional robot performance, only losing by a thin margin in the last match. If another advancing team can't go to Worlds, Imperial will be the next team to advance.

Members included: Trey Davis, Samuel Adler, Rohit Shankar, Christian Saldana, Hudson Shields and Blaine Wells (not shown)

All-freshman team Iron Star performed with distinction. Not only did they earn a spot at the Regional Championship as a rookie team, they also demonstrated coolness under stress as they experienced persistent issues with robot disconnections. They never stopped trying to get the robot back online, stayed professional throughout the tournament and gained valuable experience that will help them elevate to veteran teams next year. Members included: Katelyn Cumplido, Shawn Halimman, Evan Branson, Paul Lea, Aaron Daane, Beau Aveton, Cooper Clem, Harish Jai Ganesh, and Benjamin Oommen.

Our thanks go out to all of the people and sponsors who have supported us already this season, including but not limited to: Mr. Schelanko and Mr. Marx and the Dallas ISD STEM Department, Mr. Boykin our faculty sponsor, Mr. Palacios and SEM staff, Ms. Huitt, The Texas Workforce Commission, FIRST in Texas, DEKA, Patrick Michaud - our FIRST FTC Regional Affiliate, Fried Elliott - Regional Judge Advisor, and the Virani / Lux family.