Career Academy robotics team competes at state – The Daily Citizen

DALTON, Ga. For the second year in a row, the Career Blazers Fighting Mongooses from the Northwest Georgia College and Career Academy are headed to the state robotics championship. The event is in Athens Friday and Saturday.

The team finished second last month at the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Peachtree District Qualifier at the Dalton Convention Center.

North Murray High School's rookie team, The Mountaineers, finished 16th out of 38 teams at the district competition and received the Rookie Inspirational Award. In the past month the team fell to the 46th position in the FIRST rankings based on points from the district and the regional competition in Gainesville. Georgia teams in the top 45 compete at the state championship. The Career Blazers are ranked 25th.

The robotics teams compete in events organized by FIRST, an organization that is worldwide. Teams are comprised of mostly high school students. Team members have six weeks to design, build and program a robot that competes on a special playing field.

The Career Blazers received the Gracious Professional Award at the district competition, based on how well the team members worked together and maintained positive attitudes. They also received the Pit Safety Award for following safety guidelines while competing.

Naomi Clark, a junior at Coahulla Creek High School who is on the Career Blazers team, said the team members "improved a lot" since placing 16th at the regionals in Gainesville before the district competition.

"We had some really good developments, especially in ranking points," she said.

Points are earned based on how well the team does in qualifying matches, how far they go in the playoffs and the number of awards won.

This is Clark's first year on the team. She joined because of her interest in manufacturing.

"I enjoy building. I manufactured a lot of pieces (for the robot) and put them together for today," she said of the district competition.

Brian Cooksey, director of operations training and development at Shaw Industries who is one of Shaw's seven mentors for the two local teams, said manufacturing and robotics go together very well.

"Electrical skills, programming, computers and motors are all done in manufacturing," he said.

Martin Hutchison, the Career Blazers' coach and a mechanical engineer at Shaw, said the team was well organized. His daughter Chloe is on the team.

"It's been a great day as far as team dynamics and having a good competition goes," he said of the district competition.

Martin Hutchison is a former coach in the FIRST Lego League, an international competition for elementary and middle school students that uses Legos in robotic competitions.

"When I heard they (the Career Academy) were starting a robotics team I volunteered to help," he said.

Kevin Henry, an electronics teacher, and science teacher James Rowlenson coach North Murray's team. Henry said the district competition was a "great experience for the students involved."

"Being a rookie team we had nothing going into it, but the robot proved it was capable of doing everything," he said.

The North Murray robot collected balls and loaded and transferred them into a designated area in an allotted time. Scores were calculated based on how many balls were collected, gear changes and the robot climbing a rope, Henry said.

"Our robot was one of the few that could do everything," he said.

Matthew Henry, a student at North Georgia Technical College in Clarkesville, mentors the Mountaineers. Kevin Henry is his father.

Matthew Henry said team members support one another and their sponsors Chatsworth Oil and Lube, Shaw Industries and Snap On encourage them.

"The guys at Shaw have been more than supportive," he said.

Kevin Henry said none of the students' accomplishments would've been possible without Shaw.

"The employees are true professionals," he said. "The learning experience is well worth it for the students."

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Career Academy robotics team competes at state - The Daily Citizen