Team 230 is currently in its twenty-seventh year of involvement in the FIRST Robotics Competition. Team 230, “The Gaelhawks”, is both an award-winning team and an active “STEM” force within the community. Students on the team are mentored by engineering professionals as well as non-technical professionals.
Each year, when FIRST releases the game, the team immediately gets to work. We split into groups to develop our own strategies, then the team reconvenes and decides on the overall game plan. The team then works on designing prototypes for fulfilling the game. As team members experiment with help from mentors, the robot’s design slowly comes together. Once the robot is done, the team selects several potential drive team members, and allows them to practice.
However, building a robot is not the only task that this team accomplishes in a short time frame. Team members also come together to write and submit several award essays. These award submissions celebrate our outstanding students and mentors as well as the accomplishments of Team 230.
During our off-season, Team 230 mentors three First Lego League teams. These teams are composed of students from fifth to eighth grade and are actively mentored by our students during their competition season.
When the team is not building robots, we keep ourselves busy by getting involved in the community. Team members participate in a variety of fundraisers every year such as the Great Give and Relay for Life. Other community events we are involved in include Shelton’s Trick or Trunk, Flag Day, Hour of Code, and Shelton Day.