Largest Competition of Young Technology Leaders Heads to St. Louis, Hazelwood West High's Shrapnel Sergeants A Part

An unprecedented number of student-driven teams will converge in St. Louis through Saturday to vie in the world's largest science and technology competition, which will award nearly $15 million in scholarships.  It will be the first time the event's organizers—FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) nonprofit organization—will host the international competition in St. Louis.

FIRST activities will be held at various times at the Edward Jones Dome at America's Center. Events scheduled Thursday through Saturday are free and open to the public.

The FIRST Championship combines the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology. Under strict rules, limited resources and time limits, teams build and program robots to perform prescribed tasks against a field of competitors. 

Nearly 11,000 young American and international students, who have worked alongside 90,000-plus coaches, mentors and volunteers, have earned the right to compete at this championship. Among them are two local teams representing the ; 's Shrapnel Sergeants along with Hazelwood Central's RoboHawks.

This week's event showcases student teams from the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC-big robots) and FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC- small robots), both for high-school-age students; FIRST LEGO League (FLL) for elementary and middle-school students; and Junior FIRST LEGO League for 6- to 9-year-olds.  

"We've seen a 25 percent growth in the number of teams across all of our programs this year," said FIRST spokesperson Dennis Garrigan.

"The increased number of competition sponsors also designates that companies and institutions are solidly behind the concept of fostering innovation in youth."

Team 2408 of Hazelwood West, also known as the Shrapnel Sergeants, earned three significant awards this season. In December, the team won the Think Award at a competition at St. Louis Community College-Florissant Valley. In February, the team won the Inspire Award at an event at Missouri University of Science and Technology. The achievement opened the door to the culminating event. In March, they were presented with the Gracious Professionalism Award for their sportsmanship and generosity at the FIRST Robotics Competition St. Louis Regional.

Alex Hoeft, a senior and captain of Team 2408, said the team has worked diligently to correct both hardware and software issues with its robot.

“We’re working on software issues. We’ve straightened out our hardware issues. We’re working on autonomy for the robot and sensors,” Hoeft said."I hope we all have fun."

The team has worked nights and weekends and up to four days each week practicing the mechanics of its bot.

It’s not the first experience at the championship for Team 2408; in 2010, it traveled to Atlanta. Jordan Fusco, a Shrapnel Sergeants senior team member, said there is some level of stress for the team related to their programming, but said it's part of the process.

“Hopefully, our team will do well," he said.

This year's competition is sponsored by a range of companies and organizations:  AT&T, Siemens, the U.S. Air Force, Abbott, Autodesk, BAE Systems, SAIC and United Technologies, The Boeing Company, Coca-Cola, glacéau vitaminwater, the National Defense Education Program (NDEP), FedEx Corporation, NASA, UL,  Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening, Google, Maryville University, Missouri University of Science and Technology, University of Missouri, Central Intelligence Agency, Honda, and Rolls Royce.

FIRST founder Dean Kamen is an inventor and entrepreneur. The organization was launched in 1989 to inspire young people's interest and participation in science and technology. According to the group's background materials, the non-profit team now based in Manchester, NH, designs accessible programs that motivate young people to pursue education and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math, while building self-confidence, knowledge and life skills.

Though for team members competing, the most important part of the event is enjoyment and seeing the fruits of all the labor.

"We’re not really concerned about winning because making it to this level is an achievement," Hoeft said. "My expectation is that after it’s over, we know that we competed to our fullest and had fun doing it.”

Editor's Note:  Some event judging occurred Wednesday, but that element was not open to the public. All individual teams registered Wednesday, and were assigned a time and date to compete for qualifying matches that evening. Come back to Hazelwood Patch later this week for a final competition schedule. In the meantime, here is an initial schedule. For those who cannot physically attend the event, NASA is webcasting it.