On February 15th, the Mecha Lions went down to South Brunswick High School, to compete against 48 teams in another tournament for VEX High Stakes.
We started off the season smoothly. We went to our first tournament, made note of what needed to be improved, and came back with a plan. During our meetings on Thursday, we would also go to the International Food Club, where we would learn about new foods, cultures, and the history behind significant events, and come back refueled to work on our new robot. It was there that we were introduced to a new student-teacher in the History Department, Mr. Jacob Lukowiak, who mentioned having competed in international robotics tournaments, and offered to observe and assist our team as well.
During this time, we also welcomed new members to our team, all from eighth grade! Christopher Bueno and Frank Reynoso took on the role of our main programmers, Jorge Poma began working on building the new robot, Edwin Marchena dabbled between building and programming, while Izabella Escajadillo and Angelina LaFranco worked on inventory and documentation. Our team looked promising, and with Mr. Lukowiak’s guidance, we began working on an omnidrive base with a new claw mechanism to assist us with the challenge, as well as the codes for the autonomous parts.
The tournament on February 15 was massive, and so was our robot. We were hopeful, but everything changed when we went to inspection and realized we were a little over our size limits, due to a misunderstanding of one of the guidelines in the rulebook. From there, it became a race against the clock to make the necessary modifications to ensure we could still compete. Jorge Poma was working as hard as he could, while Isaac DeDios took the lead, working with the referee to help our team qualify. Emir Talas also made sure to document everything, by becoming our vlogger for the day.
We were down to the wire, but everything fell into place, and we were able to compete. From there, Jorge P, Ryson, and Emir took over as the robot’s drivers, Angelina and Izabella started doing research and taking notes about other robot designs, Christopher Bueno and Frank worked on fixing the code, and Edwin and Isaac helped our team set up and prepare for each match.
While we were missing some of our team members, the ones that did manage to come rose to the occasion, and made sure we got to compete in all six qualifying rounds with a functional robot. It wasn’t our best robot, but we worked very hard to keep going. Isaac made sure to keep the team on track, and it was also his birthday! During our tournament, we also got to network with other teams, connecting with another robotics team in Kearny that was excited about the possibility of partnering with our school in the future.
In the end, we were tired, but we had a new sense of direction on how to proceed. All our members had now experienced at least one tournament, and we knew exactly how to prepare. Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Bueno, who were there the whole day to support the team, as well as all our other parents who were patiently waiting for us back in the 8-12 building as we drove through a snowstorm. Lastly, thank you to Mr. Lukowiak, who adopted the team as his own, provided insights on what could be better for the next tournament, and came with donuts to keep the team’s spirits uplifted! Even though we did not get our desired scores, I am still very proud of how far we’ve come.
Coach Alizah G. Memon
