AMES, Iowa - Story County 4-H Team Neutrino competed at the North Star FIRST Robotics Competition in Minneapolis, Minnesota on April 5-8, 2017. After 80 qualification matches, the team was ranked second, and finished in elimination matches as semifinalists. However, Team Neutrino came home from the competition with a huge honor.
Team Neutrino won the most prestigious award in FIRST, the Chairman’s Award, which honors the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the purpose and goals of FIRST.
Winning the Chairman’s Award qualified them for the World Championships in St. Louis April 26 -29, where they will compete with over 400 teams from around the globe.
The team submitted an essay and executive summary, and gave a presentation to the judges about how the team has influenced its members and their communities. Last year, Team Neutrino put in 2,600 volunteer hours, reached out to 140,000 individuals and attended 29 outreach events. These included the Mini Maker Faire, Girls in Science Festival, Science Nights and the Iowa State Fair.
This year is Team Neutrino’s sixth season, and work began in January, with team members working up to 26 hours a week outside of school hours. Members of the team come from Ballard, Nevada and Ames High Schools. Team mentors include John Deere employees, Interstate Battery employees, Iowa State University students and parents of team members.
Team Neutrino requires abundant resources to create a functional robot and meet their annual team expenses. Support for the team comes from grants, in-kind donations and the support of many sponsors and partners: John Deere, Danfoss, Monsanto Fund, CIT Signature Transportation, Quality Manufacturing, Interstate Batteries, Ames Electric Services, Iowa 4-H Foundation, Emerson, Jimmy John's, Meier Bernstein Arts in STEM Project, Thrivent Financial, Accurate Perforating Company, Story County 4-H, Boyd Lab and the Iowa State College of Engineering.
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach 4-H Youth Development offers young Iowans educational opportunities, such as FIRST, to engage in STEM – science, technology, engineering and math. For more information on Iowa 4-H, visit www.extension.iastate.edu/4h. For more information about team Neutrino, visit their website at www.teamneutrino.org.
Team Photo
Members include: Chukwuneenye Agba, Abdullah Al-ani, Hugo Alvarez, James Beetham, Makenzee Bellamy, Aravind Narayanabhatla, Riley Bremer, Moriah Conner, Andres Cordoba, Luke Dirks, Nicole Essner, Steve Frana, Nitzan Friedberg, Michael Holm, Helen Hu, Woo Young Joo, Rucha Kelkar, Hallie Lartius, Hana Lee, Erik Nelson, Joel Neppel, Nathan Paskach, Logan Peters, Jacob Preston, Sayre Satterwhite, Rebekah Stammer, Benjamin Steward, Simeon Steward, Evan Williams, Preston Witte, Tianxin Xu (ISU Extension and Outreach photo/4-H Youth Program, Team Neutrino)