This spring break West’s robotics team headed down to Saint Louis High School in Honolulu, Hawaii for the Hawaii regional hosted by First Robotic Competition. The team put in hard work to make this trip possible, some members have sold Falcon Fizz, an energy drink during basketball games, as well as selling Christmas wreaths.

All of the team’s hard work fundraising paid off, leading them to have a busy yet fun schedule during their time in Hawaii. The robotics team was able to travel down to Pearl Harbor and visit the USS Arizona. Of course, they experience a fair share of Hawaiian culture as well, getting to go to an authentic luau and try out new native Hawaiian foods!

Not all of their time was spent sightseeing, they also had a successful run in the robotics competition. Robotics teacher, Greg Smith, was quite proud of the team’s performance.

 “We finished 8th out of 33 teams in qualification rounds.  The team was selected as the 1st pick to join the 4th Seed alliance,” said Smith.

During their time in the team alliance, they won the first match and lost matches two and three.

“The team broke at the end of playoff match two and had to be subbed out by another team,” said Smith.

Overall the competition was a success. Not only did they get first place, the team also won an award for their time in Kenya last year. Specifically the Sustainability Award.

“We did two trips in 20 months, implementing two filters in communities that will open clean water access to roughly 20,000 rural Kenyans,” said Smith.

Ultimately, the team had a great time in Hawaii and were able to win some awards and sight see as well.