Kings Park, New York - School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) announced that the Patchogue-Medford High School Robotics Team #329 "Raiders" has won the Team Spirit Award sponsored by Chrysler at the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Championships, which were held April 28-30 at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Missouri.
The Team Spirit Award celebrates extraordinary enthusiasm and spirit through exceptional partnership and teamwork. The Raiders were chosen from a field of 350 teams for this award for successfully manufacturing five water filtration systems that were shipped to Haiti, providing five different communities with 40,000 liters of fresh drinking water.
At the Long Island FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) on March 26, Patchogue-Medford won the Chairman's Award, the highest award that can be given at any regional FIRST Robotics Competition. This award goes to the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the purpose and goals of FIRST. The award helps keep the central focus of the FRC on the goal of inspiring greater levels of respect and honor for science and technology.
"While some may see the FIRST Robotics Program as simply as a fun and exciting robotics competition, it is really about inspiring students to become the technology leaders needed to solve the world's most complex problems," said Scott Schuler, Acting President, SBPLI. "In their development of water filtration systems being used to provide clean water in Haiti, the Patchogue-Medford Robotics Team is a wonderful example of this. We are truly proud of Patchogue-Medford and their accomplishments this season."
For more information, visit http://www.sbpli-lifirst.org.
###
The Long Island FIRST Regional Competition is run by the School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI). SBPLI was founded in 1984 by Fred Breithut with the goal of developing partnerships between local high schools and businesses that would provide students with practical experience and curriculum development, while helping the business community develop its future workforce. Over 100 partnerships have been formed. In 1999, Long Island FIRST was formed for the purpose of developing a Long Island Regional FIRST Competition. In 2000, 14 high school teams participated. The Long Island Regional has since grown with 50 teams participating in 2011. On January 8, 2011, registered teams were provided with supplies and the competition's game rules. The 2011 Competition was held at Hofstra University on March 24-26, 2011.
About FIRST ®
Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from three out of every five Fortune 500 companies and nearly $12 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST ® Robotics Competition (FRC ® ) and FIRST ® Tech Challenge (FTC ® ) for high-school students, FIRST ® LEGO ® League (FLL ® ) for 9 to 14-year-olds, (9 to 16-year-olds outside the U.S. and Canada) and Junior FIRST ® LEGO ® League (Jr.FLL) for 6 to 9-year-olds. Gracious Professionalism „¢ is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.usfirst.org. To find FIRST Robotics Competition events and teams in your area, visit www.usfirst.org, and click on the map in the top right corner or visit ConnectAMillionMinds.com and enter your zip code.
# # #
FIRST ® and FRC ® are registered trademarks, and Gracious Professionalism „¢ is a common law trademark, of the United States Foundation For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (U.S. FIRST).