Sewanhaka’s robotics team’s recent rally won them a place in a world championship.
The Robopandas, Sewanhaka Central High School District’s robotics team, took second at the FIRST Tech Challenge Long Island Regional Championship, hosted at Great Neck South High School on March 16, a rank which qualifies them to advance to the FIRST Robotics World Championship in Houston in April.
“This marks the first time since 2017 that our students will be competing at that level,” director of career and Technical Education Patrick Dunphy said. “It’s a huge achievement for our program, and the students are incredibly excited.”
In the FIRST Tech Challenge, teams design, build, and program their robots to compete against other teams on a 12 X 12 field in an alliance format. The robots are built from a reusable platform, powered by Android technology, and programmed using Java-based programming languages.
At the Long Island Regional Championship, the Robopandas had a perfect match record of 5-0 during the qualification round and were seeded as the No. 2 ranked team for the following elimination round. Their performance earned the team the Inspire Award and the recognition of the Finalist Alliance Captain.
Sewanhaka High School student Hailey Sethi and New Hyde Park Memorial High School student Zarif Abrar were named FIRST Dean’s List Semi-finalists in recognition of their leadership and dedication.
School student Zarif Abrar were named FIRST Dean’s List Semi-finalists. Photo courtesy of the Sewanhaka Central High School District
Robotics team coach Jack Chen, the Career and Technical Education pre-engineering teacher at Sewanhaka High School, was honored with the Compass Award, which recognizes an adult coach or mentor who has given outstanding guidance and support to a team throughout the year.
The team will be competing in Houston in April.
