We made it! On February 23rd 2018, we attended the Mississippi FTC State Championships. It was a pleasure competing with all of the great teams in the state, and we are grateful that we had the opportunity to interact with so many teams that are not in our immediate area.

The championships were located at The University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS. In the Tad Smith coliseum. A well serviced arena, and perfect for this event.

Our robot’s performance was split right down the middle with Three wins, Three losses. But this was a great improvement from last year, and we are looking forward to improving even more.

Here’s what our team member Jacob had to say about judging:

“Judging went okay, but needed to be better. It was definitely more difficult not having the robot. I think we should plan what we say based more on what the judges want to hear. Other teams had elements of their presentation that were unique and made them stand out, such as dramatic entrances or short skits to start off their presentation. We need something like that. Something that they will without a doubt remember.” Very wise words, Jacob! We have improved our presentation greatly from last year, but there is always room for improvement. He mentioned not having our robot during the judging session, that was because the decision was made that the teams would not take their robots with them. This year the judging was held in another building and with the inclement weather that was present all weekend, there was a real concern for the robots.

Our team member Ian said this: “On average we did pretty well, compared to what we did at all the qualifiers. The only thing that I have to say is that we really needed more time to practice and more experience people at which we should have for next year.”

Thank you Ian! Last year our roster grew greatly, and we have plans on continuing to grow, and have access to even more valuable skill sets on our team.

In short: it was a great year! and we are looking forward to improving our skill set during the off season. Just because our season is over doesn’t mean we’re done here, so be sure to stay tuned to see our shenanigans throughout the summer!