Carmel High ‘Bad News Gears’ Honored for COVID-19 Outreach
The Carmel High School FIRST Robotics Team, dubbed “The Bad News Gears,” were recently recognized for their community outreach during coronavirus pandemic.
On April 30, FIRST® students, parents, mentors, coaches, volunteers, and community members from around the world tuned in to FIRSTtv to watch the FIRST presentation of key awards that teams would have been eligible and applied for prior to the robotics competition season starting. This served as an online gathering for the FIRST community to recognize achievements of FIRST teams, mentors, and volunteers from the FIRST® RISESM, powered by Star Wars: Force for Change, season.
Due to COVID-19, FIRST suspended its 2019-20 competition season in March and canceled its international FIRST Championship events. During the virtual awards ceremony, The Bad News Gears were awarded The Chairman’s Award, the highest honor given, recognizing the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the purpose and goals of FIRST.
“I have expressed to the team for many years that Chairman’s is the top honor a team can receive; it will take creative use of the Carmel High School’s 6 C’s and extreme dedication to achieve this goal. Winning this award recognizes that creativity and dedication,” said Don Saldicco, one of the team’s advisors.
Upon hearing of the award, Carmel High School’s principal, John Fink commented, “Certainly all the hard work has paid off – all the long afternoons after school and the longer weekends in the shop! Really great stuff!”
Judges commented on the essay The Bad News Gears submitted, which explained what the team has done to promote FIRST’s Core Values while educating children and adults all about STEM. “This is an incredibly diverse team who has made a big impact on their community by sharing their STEM story. Starting as a FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) team when there were no FIRST teams in their county. This team has grown their county to include two FIRST Robotics Competition teams (the Putnam Valley High School’s Shock Bots and Brewster High School’s CyBearBots, one first Lego League Team, and two Lego League Junior teams.) They also partnered with e-Nable to create a prototype prosthetic hand for children in need,” judges stated.
FIRST Robotics Competition combines sports excitement with the rigors of science and technology. Under strict rules, limited resources, and time limits, teams are challenged to fundraise, design a brand, exercise teamwork, and build and program robots to compete in an exciting game that includes autonomous and driver-operated periods. The 2020 game, INFINITE RECHARGESM, challenged two alliances to work to protect FIRST City from approaching asteroids caused by a distant space skirmish. Each alliance, along with their trusty droids, raced to overcome obstacles and collect renewable power cells to charge their city’s shield generator and switch it on.
Team mentor and Carmel Board of Education Trustee Tara DeTurris commended the team, saying, “Competition season is my favorite season and I love working with the Gears to prepare. I am so impressed–more so every year, with their willingness to learn, hard work and inclusion of all students. This team never ceases to amaze me with their dedication and desire to bring STEM to the community.”
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