Robotics Team Heads to National Competition

At the Robotics Regional Competition in San Diego in March, the Sun Valley Charter High School robotics team won a chance to compete in the Robotics Championship Competition in Atlanta April 12-14.

Team Sevnet won the Rookie All-Star Award, which is given to the rookie team that shows a strong partnership effort and that implements the mission of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics to inspire students to learn more about science and technology. The team that wins the regional Rookie All-Star Award also earns the right to compete in the national event.

When the award was announced, the team and the school's cheerleaders jumped out of their seats and raced to the playing field to high-five the judges and the CEO of Qualcomm, Dr. Paul Jacobs, who was a major sponsor of the San Diego event as well as the Sun Valley team.

Immediately following the announcement of the award, the team was given a grant of $5,000 from Jeff and Cynthia Crosby of Ethertronics to cover the cost of the national entry fee.

The award was the culmination of hard work by the students, their parents, and their mentors. In January, the team was given the details of this year's competition. They were handed two boxes full of motors, servos, pneumatics, electronic components and chassis parts, and given six weeks to design and build a robot.

The Sun Valley Charter High School robotics team was sponsored by NASA, Qualcomm, Sony, and J.B. Hunt. Rodger Dohm, Poway High School teacher and RUSD trustee, helped the team get off the ground and assisted in securing the partnerships with NASA and Qualcomm.

Dohm, who was a key supporter of the Sun Valley Charter High School robotics team, envisions every school in the Ramona community having a FIRST Robotics team - from elementary school through high school.

With the winning of the Rookie All-Star Award and the chance to compete in Atlanta, the Sun Valley Charter High School robotics team now faces raising funds for the trip. The entry fee of $5,000 has been paid by Ethertronics, but the team needs to cover air fare and hotel accommodations for the team, the mentors, the cheerleaders, and the chaperones - about $20,000.

For more information, call Sun Valley Charter High School at 760-788-8008.

Team Members

Shayne Jensen, President

Travis Pluss, Vice-President

Jason Stinchcomb, Secretary

Paul Blair (Julian Charter School)

Doug Foley

Brian Godwin

Connor Jensen (OPMS)

Ryan Kiernan

Cristina O'Lague

Taylor Schedine

Wes Socia

Albert Valentin

Cheerleaders

Allana Welch, Captain

Alex Black

Jessica Martinez

Leonna Spilman

Kaylin Williams