Getting
Re-Energized
When the 2006-2007 school
year began, nearly all previous-season K-Island Gears
members were ready to return to work on FIRST. This
second season, however, turned out to be a re-building
season.
First, the year began
without a team leader. The position was later filled by
Thousand Islands Athletic Director Ms. Harding and
Engineering teacher Mr. Freitag. This crucial position
was among other coordinator/mentor positions created and
in need of filling at the start of the season. The team
had been partially re-divided into its sub-teams: the
Public Relations, game/drive, and graphic design teams
remained unchanged; while travel and business merged to
become the budget team, the Web Design team was formed,
and the design/build team became two different
divisions. Also marking the marking the new season was a
new motto: “Building Success.”
These and other factors
contributed to a late start for the second season.
However, this late start was by no means a slow start.
All divisions began working toward team goals
immediately after the initial meeting, making the first
few months very productive ones.
The search for sponsors
began with a return to familiar territory: New York Air
Brake and Don’s Prop Shop lent their services to the
team as they had the previous season. Verizon was next
to jump on the bandwagon, with a generous donation.
Funds also flowed in from the Thousand Islands Booster
Club and the dozens of individual sponsors who
purchased “I am a sponsor” buttons to support the cause.
New sponsors the Cape Vincent Lion's Club, Rusty Johnson
Masonry, and Tracy Harding made their donations
following the Kick-Off.
Pre-season's
Over
By the time of the season
2 Kick-Off on January 6, 2007, the team had accomplished
more than what was expected. At this point, more money
had been raised than what was spent the previous season,
putting Team 1713 in a good position for the rest of the
season.
The students were
surprised by what they saw at the presentation: the new game, Rack 'n'
Roll, was like nothing they had ever seen before. Unlike
2006's Aim High, Rack and Roll resembled no existing
sport, and the scoring system (more complex than the
previous year's), would prove to be a challenge for the
game and drive team.
The quest for a robot
name began in familiar territory: names of sponsors were
suggested. After some discussion, the popular name of "Poco"
was confirmed.
Considering the success
during the previous season, it seemed a natural decision
to have another spaghetti dinner fundraiser. The dinner
was a hit, and went entirely as planned. The outstanding
response to the dinner, as well as that to the "Sponsor
Button" fundraiser, show the power of the K-Island Gears
as a source of local and district pride.
Finger Lakes
2007
The team entered their
second Finger Lakes Competition with uncertainty as to
how they would perform. However, the qualifying matches
ended with the K-Island-Gears seeded fourth out of
thirty-five teams. Chosen for the play-off alliance were
Teams 250 and 1450, the Dynamos and XQ Robotix
respectively. The well-designed ramp and consistent
strategy took the team to the top, winning two out of
three matches in each level of play-off action. Finally,
the alliance won the competition in an exhilarating
final match, cheered on by the X-Cats and Blue
Lightning, among other teams. This was the second
consecutive year in which the Gears qualified for the
Championship Event in Atlanta.
Atlanta 2007
Unable to pass up another
trip to Atlanta, the team switched gears, beginning an
unprecedented flurry of fundraising. Helped along by
proud local businesses and individuals, the $22,000 was
successfully raised one week before the competition
began.
As Thousand Islands
students and faculty watched with excitement, Team 1713
won four of their seven matches. Moral support also came
from the teams with which the Gears had won in
Rochester, (250, 1450) neither of competed in the same
division as the Gears in Atlanta.
They did make their
community proud, seeded 38th out of the 86 robots in
their division. Unfortunately, they were not chosen as
part of one of the eight play-off alliances.
Poco, however, had
certainly made an impact on the community. The Gears,
formerly obscure to many locals, had built a large
following. In fact, a Lionsgate Films had at one point
even planned to produce a film about a robotics team,
inspired a newspaper article written by local journalist
and long-time Gears fan Roxanne Derrickson.
|
Game |
Robot |
Team Leader |
Student Leader |
Number of Members |
Motto |
|
Rack 'N' Roll |
Poco |
Craig Freitag |
Tracy Harding |
Stan |
36 |
"Building Success" |
|
Finger Lakes Regional |
|
Seed
|
Playoff Team 1 |
Playoff Team 2 |
Awards
Won |
|
4/35 |
Team 250 |
Team 1450 |
Regional Winners |
|
International Championship |
|
Seed |
Division |
Playoff Team 1 |
Playoff Team 2 |
| 38/86 |
Archimedes |
N.A |