.jpg)
Nearly a dozen area high school students will make lifelong memories this week in Houston, Texas.
That’s the site of the international FIRST Robotics Championships, an event that will bring 600 teams from all over the planet - from the United States to locales including China, Australia and Europe.
And included in that group are the Iron Mosquitoes, an 11-member team made up primarily of students from Northeast Range High School in Babbitt with a couple from Ely Memorial High School.
They’ll travel, sightsee and compete on the grandest stage in robotics.
The trip to Houston comes as a bit of a surprise after the group placed second in its alliance at the Bayou Regionals, which wound up last week in New Orleans.
“We felt we accomplished something,” said Ryan Lindsay. “It’s the best we’ve ever done and we were in the finals, but we felt we fell a little short of points to get to worlds, but based on the awards and performance we made it when we thought we were a little short on the cutoff.”
The qualification set off a whirlwind that included a quick turnaround to make another long road trip, as well as a quest to raise $15,000 needed for the students to make the trip.
“Things are coming in and it looks like we will be able to fund the trip,” said Lindsay, who coaches the team with fellow Northeast Range instructor Aaron Donais.
Those fundraising efforts continued this week, with contributions payable to the Northeast Range School, with robotics listed in the memo, and sent to 30 South Drive, Babbitt, MN 55706.
There’s also an online web link for donations at htpps://slc2142. revatrak.net/donations-northeast- range/.
The robotics team has combined their skills in science, math and engineering, and divided into design and drive teams to put together a robot that is hard to match.
“Our drive team has put a lot of time in,” said Lindsay. “They know where they need to score and do it really effectively... They have a really high-quality robot and we have a really good design captain.”
Competing in New Orleans were Tuuli Koivisto, Rylan Buschman, Simon Bartnick, Riley Holewa, Noah Axelsson, Greyson Reichensperger, Jadin Nilsson, Molly Lindsay,LandynSaltzman,Yagmur Kilic and Tristan Steiner-Teslow.
All but Lindsay and Axelsson attend Northeast Range.
The team had an adventure even before getting to New Orleans when a van carrying team members blew its transmission.
And after qualifying, Lindsay had to secure commitments and enter the Houston event in a matter of a day.
