FVC Orangeburg Thanks and Congrats

[Billfred]

Today I went to Orangeburg for the FVC event down there. (Nothing like a 5:00 AM wake up plus having to drive an hour to start off your first stint as a judge, I’ll say.)

Here’s the results, in the order I pulled them from the presentation:

FIRST Vex Challenge Award: FVC 171, Clover High School (also home to 2005 Palmetto Rookie All-Stars FRC 1539). Here’s the citation from the judges:

Throughout the day this team demonstrated respect for their teammates and respect for other teams. They gave concrete examples of how they have helped each other and others. At their school, they’ve reached out to help younger students get involved with the FIRST Lego League. Today, they’ve offered other teams help with their automation design. During a competition today, they even tried to help another robot on the opposite team get back on its wheels after flipping over - a true demonstration of gracious professionalism.
This team has also shown a true concern for their community by supporting breast cancer awareness, which is why their team color is pink.
The Challenge Award is presented to Team 171, Clover High School!

Champions:
FVC 171: Clover High School (Yep, they pulled a HOT on us!)
FVC 4: Carolina Academy
FVC 111: Cross High School

Finalists:
FVC 7: South Carolina Governor’s School for Science and Math
FVC 123: Strom Thurmond High School and Career Center
FVC 165: East Clarendon High School

Connect Award: FVC 7, South Carolina Governor’s School for Science and Math

Amaze Award: (We gave two Amaze Awards, because the judges agreed that both teams genuinely deserved it):

FVC 176: Lincoln High School

The first Amaze Award is being given to a team whose school literally survives day-to-day. This school is located in a severely economically-depressed area, which has never recovered from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Hugo. A science teacher, this team’s mentor, has worked tirelessly to introduce students to robotics through the Vex competition. Because of her dedication, many of the students plan to further their education by attending college to major in engineering, computer science, and technology. The first Amaze Award goes to Team #176, Lincoln High School.

FVC 165: East Clarendon High School

The second Amaze Award goes to another school in an economically disadvantaged area of the state. This team’s school could not afford to fund the purchasing of the Vex kit. So, the team applied for a grant. The grant approval–the money–came in exactly one week ago today. The students designed and built their robot in only four days. Even though their robot did not perform as well as they wished, this team viewed their robot as a work in progress and has actively participated in today’s competition. The second Amaze Award goes to Team #165, East Clarendon High School.

Think Award: FVC 154, Cope Area Career Center

This team’s journal highlighted their journey and detailed their research and design to build their robot. Pictures and diagrams were used to document the various stages of robotic design and problem solving. This team’s personality shone through the pages in their journal and war reflected in their biographies. Clearly, they understood the engineering design process and the value of team work. This team’s journal contains all the elements for the FIRST Vex Challenge Think Award. Good job, Cope Area Career Center Team 154!

Create Award: FVC 4, Carolina Academy

This team showed creativity, enthusiasm, and uniqueness in their robot design. Based on a conveyor belt model, this robot could pick up and deliver multiple balls. It was very controllable and it’s actions were easily repeated. The Create Award goes to a school with excellent team spirit and outstanding design techniques.
Congratulations to Team #4 - Carolina Academy!

Everyone did a great job, especially for the first time out. I have lots of pictures, which I will be uploading to Delphi over the weekend. Big thanks to SC State University for hosting us, all the volunteers and crew, and to all the teams for making this a far more interesting Friday than usual for me. Hope to see a lot of y’all at Palmetto!

[rswsmay]

Thanks for the post Billfred… I made the almost 4 hr drive from Atlanta to the event on yesterday also. Nothing like a 3:00am wakeup and 1:00 am return to keep my eyes bloodshot all day today. I made the trip there with another individual who will be serving as a judge here in Atlanta. There were lots of things about the SC Vex tournament that we liked, and several things that we will have to change or adjust when teams come to Atlanta. This is mainly due to the Atlanta tournament being a joint FRC and FVC event. Other than some minor but somewhat irritating problems with the scoring system and the field controls, I felt it was a very successful and organized event. Crowd control around the playing field was also an issue but easily fixed.

Thanks to all who attended, participated, and especially to SCSU for hosting the event for us. I also have quite a few photos as well as movie clips that I will try to get posted over the next day or 2.

Today I went to Orangeburg for the FVC event down there. (Nothing like a 5:00 AM wake up plus having to drive an hour to start off your first stint as a judge, I’ll say.)

Here’s the results, in the order I pulled them from the presentation:

FIRST Vex Challenge Award: FVC 171, Clover High School (also home to 2005 Palmetto Rookie All-Stars FRC 1539). Here’s the citation from the judges:

Champions:
FVC 171: Clover High School (Yep, they pulled a HOT on us!)
FVC 4: Carolina Academy
FVC 111: Cross High School

Finalists:
FVC 7: South Carolina Governor’s School for Science and Math
FVC 123: Strom Thurmond High School and Career Center
FVC 165: East Clarendon High School

Connect Award: FVC 7, South Carolina Governor’s School for Science and Math

Amaze Award: (We gave two Amaze Awards, because the judges agreed that both teams genuinely deserved it):

FVC 176: Lincoln High School

FVC 165: East Clarendon High School

Think Award: FVC 154, Cope Area Career Center

Create Award: FVC 4, Carolina Academy

Everyone did a great job, especially for the first time out. I have lots of pictures, which I will be uploading to Delphi over the weekend. Big thanks to SC State University for hosting us, all the volunteers and crew, and to all the teams for making this a far more interesting Friday than usual for me. Hope to see a lot of y’all at Palmetto!