Last weekend, the Frenship Robotics team traveled to Amarillo to compete in the FIRST Robotics District Competition. The Iron Tigers finished 8th in qualification rounds out of 28 participants and earned an alliance captain spot. As selections were made, they moved up to 5th Alliance Captain. They made it to the quarter finals, but unfortunately their advancement ended there. 

While the Iron Tigers did not make it past the quarter finals, they showed the other participants what it truly means to be a Frenship Tiger. After hearing about a team from Arkansas that had major damage to their robotics center and their competition robot due to a tornado, the Iron Tigers took it upon themselves to SERVE their fellow competitors.  

The Arkansas team, Apophis Team, had already qualified for World's and needed help raising funds to make repairs and travel to the World competition. The Iron Tigers decided to go around the district competition and collect donations.  

“Our kids are so amazing,” said Nancy Schunke, Robotics Mentor at Frenship High School. “They went to every team pit on the first day of the competition and told everyone what we were doing to collect donations. The first day we raised $512!!”  

An announcement was made on the second day, and the students continued their mission of collecting donations. By the end of the weekend, the Iron Tigers had raised over $1,300 to send to the Apophis Team. 

"We are so proud of the work they did to help Apophis Team," said Schunke. 

During the awards ceremony, the Iron Tigers were awarded the "Gracious Professionalism" award for the way they worked on and off the field.  Gracious Professionalism is part of the ethos of FIRST. It’s a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. Gracious professionals learn and compete like crazy but treat one another with respect and kindness in the process. 

The students that attended the district competition are listed below:

Sarah Beller, Saif Bernstein, Joshua Bigelow, Daniella Duff, Eli Garnica, James Lucero, Riley Holloway, Kyla James, Caleb Lester, River Pocheco, Jody Raschke, Jonathan Sandjong, Kenneth Thomas, and Kaitlyn Villarreal. 

Additional team members who did not attend competition but are part of the Iron Tigers team:

Azariah Barnes, Quinn Hilliard, Neveah Gallegos, Jeremiah Lawas, Jacob Sloan, and Mathew Landin