Team members from left: Aaron Doull, Enapay Croy, Kaylie Prieur, Kaden Smith, Evan Smith, Markay Williams and mentor Arpad Depaszthory JOE PRIEUR | FISHY BUSINESS INC.

Ont Saturday, Feb. 4, the South Beach robotics team Fishy Business Inc. qualified for the FIRST Technology Challenge West Super Regional Championship set for March 9-12. That competition will pit the top 74 teams across 14 western states against one another in Tacoma. Top placers in that event will advance to the world championships in Houston in mid-April.

The local team took fourth place in qualifications at the state championships in Kent and won the Control Award for its documentation of robot control components. In the competition, teams composed of students and adult mentors build game-playing robots they operate in head-to-head challenges in an alliance format with other teams.

South Beach-area students involved were Ocosta High seniors Enapay Croy, Aaron Doull and Kaylie Prieur, junior Kaden Smith, freshmen Evan Smith, Samatha Starkey and Markay Williams, along with seventh-graderr Jayson Davidson, have put in thousands of hours as a team since the season began in September to design and build a robot that will perform prescribed tasks in the competition setting.

With their performances at their past four events, including first place at the interleague event, there is a high likelihood that they will also qualify for world championships, said mentor Joe Prieur.

The team has been meeting several evenings during the week and long days on weekends. Their hard work and determination is paying off, but they need help getting to the next competition. Up to this point, the team has relied primarily on grants received earlier in the season from Boeing, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and FIRST. Further progression requires funds to be raised to cover necessities like travel, lodging, meals, registration fees and replacement robot parts, he said.

GoFundMe

Toward that end, Fishy Business Inc. has established a GoFundMe account, with the goal of reaching $6,000 within a month to help defray expenses for air travel, overnight stays, meals, ground transportation and robot parts.

4H Ocosta Robotics is a registered non-profit under 4H. Donations may be tax-deductible and donors are advised to see a tax professional for further details.

You can follow the teams progress on Facebook at fb.me/FTC11121 or search Facebook for FTC11121.

Their Facebook page includes a link to the GoFundMe site.

If a local business is interested in sponsoring the team or having the students do a presentation to better understand the skills learned and developed by the team, they may be reached by email at: FRC3787@gmail.com

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South Beach robotics squad advances to super regionals - The Daily World