written by the team
“Together we Rise” has gone from being a game to being a real world challenge as Robotics teams across the country work to support their communities.
Around the world, FIRST Robotics High School students are joining the fight against COVID-19. These students are using their skills to support their local communities. This year's competition theme of “Together we Rise” has taken on a very real meaning. Across the state and nation, students are pouring their energy and creativity into helping all of us rise together.
One local team from Avalon School and Great River School, NoMythic, started small, as members began sewing face masks for their families and each other. They donated a box of safety glasses to Regions Hospital. This idea then grew to donating 50 pairs of safety glasses to a long term care facility. Students and mentors on NoMythic have begun using 3-D printers to create face shields that they donate to front line workers in their community. In the first week there was a request for one and after seeing the product, the long term care facility requested 50. “I want to bring face masks home for my mom, who drives a city bus, and other transit workers to help keep them safe.” said Freya, a 12th grade student on the team. The need is real and growing. The team is rising to the challenge.
“It’s hard to believe that just a month ago, we were preparing to compete at the World Championships!” said mentor Michael Flood. The team, NoMythic, had competed in Duluth with 120 other teams from around the region. They managed to win an invitation to the world Championships and began preparations immediately.
In the days that followed, NoMythic celebrated its victory and looked ahead to the future of the season. This year was shaping up to be one of NoMythic’s best ever. Amid the celebration was an underlying sense of dread as the spread of COVID-19 led to many other FIRST events being cancelled, but NoMythic still held out hope and started making plans to go to the FIRST World Championship.
On March 12th, FIRST released a season update: “It is with deep disappointment that I share an update on the immediate suspension of the current FIRST season and the cancellation of both Championship events.” Across the world, teams were in shock. Students on NoMythic left their advisories in search of one another: talking, crying, and joking together waiting for the news to fully sink in.
It didn’t take long to recover from their loss. Around the world, teams began using the skills learned from building and designing robots to join the fight against COVID-19. Teams from around the country are doing the same. Here in Minnesota, Team 2177, The Robettees from Visitation High School, are sewing face masks. Team 2052, The KnightKrawlers, from Irondale High School, are making Face Shields that they are donating to local hospitals and other organizations. Around the state, teams are doing what they can to make sure that we all rise through this challenge together.
Links
For more information:
No Mythic’s website is at http://www.2491nomythic.com/
Great River School Montessori / IB is at http://www.greatriverschool.org/
Avalon School’s website is http://www.avalonschool.org/
FIRST Robotics and the details of the World Championship are at http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc
Team’s We Contacted:
KnightKrawler:FIRST Team 2052 https://www.team2052.com/
Robettes, FIRST Team 2177 https://www.therobettes.com/