Gladstone BraveBots

ESCANABA — The FIRST in Michigan (FIM) District Escanaba Event that challenged teams from 38 high schools to compete two at a time to drive robots around a pit in the gym and complete tasks took place this past weekend. The BraveBots, team 4391 from Gladstone Area High School, took first place overall. Other local teams were also recognized for a variety of achievements.

For the 529 teams in Michigan, there are five weeks of 32 district events like the one that was held in Escanaba between March 7 and 9. Teams must participate in two such events to qualify for progressing to the next level of regional event, which is the state championship held at Saginaw Valley State University from April 3 to 5. The next district event that the BraveBots, the Escanaba RoboMos and Technomos and other teams will participate in will be held at Lake Superior State University beginning on March 30.

FIRST Robotics Competition encourages students to work together in a number of areas — problem-solving, engineering, sportsmanship, art and more. Some key values are recognized not by performance during matches, but in other displays at the competition.

Peyton Rohr, a junior from Gladstone, was named a District Championship Dean’s List Semi-Finalist. The status is for students who “are great examples of current student leaders who have led their teams and communities to increased awareness for FIRST and its mission while achieving personal technical expertise and accomplishment,” according to the award guide.

The RoboMos from Escanaba Junior Senior High School won the Industrial Design Award, which “celebrates the team that demonstrates industrial design principles, striking a balance between form, function, and aesthetics.” 

The Wolverine Circuit Breakers from Mid-Peninsula School won the Gracious Professionalism Award due to their “outstanding demonstration of FIRST Core Values such as continuous ‘Gracious Professionalism’ and working together both on and off the playing field.”

From Big Bay de Noc School, the Black Bear Bolts earned the Rookie All-Star Award, which is given to “the rookie team exemplifying a young but strong partnership effort, as well as implementing the mission of FIRST to inspire students to learn more about science and technology.”

Carney-Nadeau Public School’s BetaWolves took home the District FIRST Impact Award, meaning they were an inspiring team that “represented a model for other teams to emulate and best embodied the mission of FIRST.”

The Imagery Award, in honor of illustrator Jack Kamen, was given to JET SET from North Central Area Junior Senior High School and “celebrates attractiveness in engineering and outstanding visual aesthetic integration of machine and team appearance.”

The Junkyard Dawgs of Manistique Middle High School won the Team Sustainability Award for “developing sustainable practices to have a positive environmental impact and achieve long-term continuity.”

The BraveBots, in addition to being the district event winner, won the Excellence in Engineering Award, which goes to a team that “demonstrates a professional approach to the design process.” The Gladstone team’s engineering notebook provided the judges with records of the steps they took along the way.

“I appreciate the effort that the mentors and the kids put in. …They put in a lot of hours since January to get ready for this past weekend,” said BraveBots Coach Tim Barron, adding that team of 27 9th- to 12th-graders was a hard-working bunch. “I tell them in life, you don’t always get rewarded for hard work, but it’s super cool when you put that work in, and you do get the reward. …The adults are happy, the kids are happy, and they all realize that we did it together. That’s one of the very cool things about robotics.”

After all five weeks of FIM district events wrap up, the top 160 highest-scoring teams will get to travel to the Michigan State Championship. Two weeks after states, the world championship takes place in Houston, Texas.