On March 22nd to 24th, the Girls of Steel Robotics team competed at California University of PA at the Greater Pittsburgh Regional. There were 52 teams at the regional, with teams from all over the world. There were two teams from Asia that are mentored by Girls of Steel, Savage Tumaz, FRC 6947, from Chinese Taipei and Voyager, FRC 6414, from Mainland China. We also mentored a local rookie team, the Brashear Bulls Robotics, FRC 7274, that competed at their first event and got a taste of FIRST competitions. The Girls of Steel had an exciting weekend because of their performance during matches, the awards they won, and their prospects for the future.
The three days of competition exhibited many thrilling matches and robots. Qualification matches did not begin until Friday, so Thursday was used for practice matches where teams could get better equipped for competition. Clyde did well in practice and did not have many issues! Mikayla Trost, a senior on the team, hosted a FIRST Ladies meet-up at lunch with other girls from the teams.
Over the next two days, Clyde played in 9 matches and ranked 24th at the end of the day. Our scouting data showed a strong performance putting cubes on the scale with our robot! Then, we were picked by team 2252 the Mavericks along with 2053 TigerTronics for an alliance! Our alliance made it to game 3 in the semifinals and worked well together!
Over the course of the competition, the Girls of Steel earned three awesome awards! On Friday, mentor Thomas Pope, or “The Pope,” won the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award! Mr. Pope helps out countless teams in addition to the Girls of Steel, including SHARP, Brashear, Voyager, and Savage Tumaz. Kristina Hilko, a junior from Penn Hills High School, received the Dean’s List Finalist Award for her outstanding work in her academic life and the FIRST community. Then, the Girls of Steel won the most prestigious award at the regional, the Chairman’s Award! Anna Nesbitt, Priya Ray, and Caroline Kenney presented about our team’s efforts to fix the “leaky STEM pipeline” and our impact on the community. Overall, the team had a successful and exciting weekend. We’d like to congratulate Brashear Bulls Robotics for winning the Highest Rookie Seed and Rookie Inspiration Awards, and Savage Tumaz for winning the Rookie All Star Award! Also check out the photos by Gabriel F., the photographer at the Greater Pittsburgh Regional.
Looking to the future, the Girls of Steel will be going to the World Championships in Detroit from April 25th to the 28th. Until then, we will be working hard to make our robot the best it can be!