The Westwood High School Tomahawk First Tech Challenge robotics team is advancing to State!
The team is one of only 19 teams advancing from the 48 who participated in the FTC Central Area Championship held late last month at Cedar Ridge High School.
Senior Reet Sinha said he’s confident in his team’s capabilities.
“We are lucky enough to have some of the best tools out there in our maker space, and this directly helps us speed up the design process and have more time to practice and test our robot,” Reet said. “After we have a prototype built, we test it and see how we can improve upon it.”
He said it’s fun to see the robot work, and then figure out how to improve upon it.
FTC competitions require students to design, build, program and operate robots that compete in head-to-head challenges in alliance formats.
The goal is for students to develop STEM skills and practice engineering principles while realizing the value of hard work, innovation and working as a team.
Westwood sophomore Jatin Aggarwal said competition is stiff, but overall the robotics community is extremely welcoming and a great environment for learning those hard and soft skills.
“You get to work alongside many others who share the same passion you do,” he said. “Overall, robotics is a fun and rewarding way to explore STEM and prepare for the future!”
While teamwork is important, there are also opportunities for individual members to shine. Jatin was one of four students selected at the competition to become a Dean’s List Finalist.
The award recognizes student leaders who have helped increase awareness for the sport within their teams and communities.
“Being named a Dean’s List Award Finalist felt incredibly rewarding and exciting,” he said. “Over the past years, I have put a lot of energy into learning and designing a custom robot for the First Technical Challenge and advocating for FIRST, and this award sums it all up.”
The team will compete against students from throughout the state March 21-23 in Belton.
