Histoy behind us

In the spring term of 2008, a group of determined students seeking hands-on opportunities in engineering was recognized by a body of dedicated faculty, and they helped them to organize the school's first robotics club. With limited resources, the club was only capable of working with simple Lego pieces for a short period time each week. After a few months, they heard about the FIRST Robotics Competition that was taking place in Jacob Javits Center in March and decided to attend. They talked to experienced advisors from veteran teams and met with people from the FIRST organization. It was this that led them to become interested in the idea of creating a team for the following year.

In the beginning of the fall term of 2008, the former robotics club members publicized their newly created rookie team with daily school announcements and posting information on the school's flat screen televisions. After amassing over forty members, our next goal was to collect funds and spread the word of our first team by setting up bake sales and display cases which include little Lego robots built from modeling kits. Students of Francis Lewis became fully aware of our team with our participation in the school's annual pep rally in mid-October. Reaching out to students in our diverse school helps to bring new ideas for our team.

During the meeting sessions before the start of the competition, we prepared for the competition by searching for mentors and working together to brainstorm ideas on advertising (purchasing sweatshirts and bags with our logo on it, as an example). In addition, we read and analyzed the FRC manual. After the kickoff began, members helped one another to clearly understand the game's tasks and rules.

To gain further knowledge in the fields of computer programming and engineering, our team attended several workshops at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University and Con Edison, as well as the Polytechnic Kickoff. We have also visited other high schools to learn what is expected of our team. These workshops were all beneficial in their own way and as a whole have helped us develop new approaches for our robot. Attending these workshops shows our commitment and dedication to the team.