Adna Pirates Team 5748 waits in the queuing area for its next match in Mount Vernon on Saturday, March 14. From left to right: Samuel Small, Colton Chilleli, William Case, Hunter Gowen, Robert Case, Hayden Wolf, Tyler Murphy, Joseph Small and Rachel White.
In its first year, the robotics program in Adna is showing success and moving on to the regional championship.
That is, if they can secure the funds to do so.
After obtaining enough points, the Adna Pirates Robotics Team 5748 was invited to participate in the competition in Cheney this weekend. The top 64 teams are invited to take part, and Adna’s team secured 39th place out of 152 teams in Washington and Oregon.
The team competed at Auburn High School March 26-28 and scored high enough to be an alliance team captain. They selected two rookie teams, Holy Names Academy Team 5588 and Auburn Riverside High School Team 5683, to compete alongside with in the championship rounds. The team did not advance to the semi-finals, but was able to secure the points to move on to regionals.
Now, students are asking the community for support and have set up a GoFundMe account in an effort to raise the $4,000 entry fee for the championship competition.
“The challenge the team faces, however, is not design, engineering or programming,” Melanie Case, a parent of one of the team members, said in an email. “It is funding. The team may not be able to go because they are low on money.”
Volunteers and school officials wrote grants to support the robotics team during the summer and fall, securing a solid base of funding to help the team build the working robot and compete in two matches. With the team’s advancement, now more money is needed.
“Few people thought that a rookie team would be able to advance so far with little experience,” Case said. “Adna has proven them wrong.”
The team has secured $220 toward its goal of $4,000, and needs to raise the remainder of the funds prior to the competition.
Anyone willing to donate can do so at www.gofundme.com/qbxcc6c.
