Holland Patent, New Hartford students in St. Louis for competition
Front row: Tori Love, New Hartford, Meral Evke, New Hartford; middle row: Andrew Nerber, New Hartford, Dominick Ferone, SUNYIT, Nick Finn, Holland Patent, Ian Berringer, Rochester Institute of Technology Justin Melnitsky, SUNYIT, Ben Weiss, SUNYIT, Yu Zhou, SUNYIT faculty; back row: Elizabeth Vanderhoef, Holland Patent physics teacher, and Dakota Baber, Dave Nopany, and Jarod Bialekall of New Hartford. Not pictured: Amanda Milone of Holland Patent, Maysara Elazzazi of New Hartford.
(New Hartford, NY – May 2014) The Mohawk Valley’s inaugural FIRST Robotics Challenge (FRC) team, with 10 members from Holland Patent and New Hartford school districts, competed at the FIRST World Festival in St. Louis April 23-26.
Co-sponsored by SUNYIT and Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES, FRC Team #5030, “The Second Mouse,” raised about $20,000, including a $5,000 donation from UTC Aerospace Systems, Rome, Wellness Committee, to pay for travel and expenses at the event, after earning a spot at the regional tournament in March. Out of 400 regional championship teams competing in St. Louis, the Mohawk Valley team placed 78th out of 100 in its division, winning three of 10 matches.
“The team played much better than it placed,” said mentor Ben Weiss, a SUNYIT freshman. “I’m really proud of the team’s effort at the World Festival.”
Students said they made connections with other FRC teams from across the country and plan to conduct outreach events locally and regionally to spread the word about the FIRST robotics program.
“This was awesome,” said team member Andrew Nerber of New Hartford. “I am going to really try hard to come back here next year.”
Team members are: Nicholas Finn and Amanda Milone of Holland Patent High School; and Dakota Baber, Jarod Bialek, Maysara Elazzazi, Meral Evke, Nick Kopyt, Tori Love, Andrew Nerber and David Nopany of New Hartford. The team is mentored by three SUNYIT freshmen, Ben Weiss, Dominick Ferone, and Justin Melnitsky, assisted by Ian Berringer, a Rochester Institute of Technology student. Yu Zhou, associate professor of mechanical engineering, is the SUNYIT senior mentor; Elizabeth Vanderhoef, physics teacher from Holland Patent, and Gary VonDauber, technology teacher from New Hartford, are community senior mentors to the team. More information is available at: www.team5030.com.