Breakaway Wins Chairman’s at Rock City, Qualifies for the World Championship
The Arkansas Rock City Regional (March 6-9, 2019) was a huge success for Breakaway 3937. The Arkansas Rock City Regional is Arkansas’ only regional, and 60 teams gathered in the Barton Coliseum in Little Rock, Arkansas, to compete for qualification for the World Robotics Championship. This is our home event, which means for Breakaway that we help host, set up, and tear down the field and pits. Rock City drew in teams from Arkansas, Louisiana, Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Germany, Brazil, and Mexico. This year there were even 18 rookie teams, 17 of which were from Arkansas. Good things are happening with STEM education and robotics in this state, and we love being part of the momentum.
Breakaway Tops the Charts with Filling Rockets
The robot and drive team had an impressive weekend. This year’s game, Destination Deep Space, requires robot alliances (of three teams) to load “cargo” into rockets and cargo ships and to attach “hatches” to hold the cargo in place. At the end of the game teams return to the “habitat,” and points are awarded to teams on the habitat based on the level they land their robots.
If you are new to FIRST Robotics and this year’s game, you might watch this video to get a better picture of the challenge:
After a couple of rough starts, the drive team and robot executed the rest of their games almost flawlessly in the qualification round. We were able to load complete rocket ships in 5 games, which earned automatic ranking points for our alliances. Our consistent rocket completion rate sets our performance apart from most teams in the world. After the first two weeks of competitions, Breakaway sat at the top among teams around the world. We were ranked 1st in completing rockets, 1st in total cargo scored, and 2nd in total hatch panels. At the end of the qualification round, we ranked 3rd place in the regional and secured a spot in the elimination round.
Thankfully, the number one seed, Apophis 5006, picked us as their top pick for the alliance, and we were certain that this would lead to another regional championship and our first Arkansas Championship win since 2014. Unfortunately, we ended our run in the semi-finals, but throughout the matches our robot and drive team remained strong and at full function. It was heart breaking to lose in the semi-finals, but the day wasn’t over.
“There’s Always Chairman’s”
My time with Breakaway has been relatively recent. I came on board first as a dad and later as a volunteer mentor, not because I know robots and engineering, but because I wanted to help out with the public relations side of things. It’s been a real privilege to watch the PR team come of age. We have had gifted and dedicated students who have poured countless hours into laying a foundation for community outreach which blends STEM education and our Christian faith into a true commitment to disseminate values such as forming friendships, working smart, having self-confidence, and reaching out to others.
I first heard “there’s always Chairman’s” a few years ago when I was in the stands and saw the long faces of a Breakaway team that so desperately wanted to qualify for the World Championship. The Chairman’s award is a judged event, and teams who win Chairman’s at the regional level advance their robot to compete at the World Championship as well as compete for the Chairman’s Award at the highest level. The FIRST Robotics website describes the Chairman’s Award in this way:
“The Chairman’s Award is the most prestigious award at FIRST, it honors the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the mission of FIRST. It was created to keep the central focus of FIRST Robotics Competition on the ultimate goal of transforming the culture in ways that will inspire greater levels of respect and honor for science and technology, as well as encouraging more of today’s youth to become science and technology leaders.”
Breakaway has embraced this mission and has been building a program that would aspire to accomplish these goals at Harding Academy, in Searcy and White Country, and throughout the state of Arkansas. In the last five years this team has mentored FIRST LEGO League teams, created LEGO camps in the summer, and launched LEGO cup, which is an after school robotics program for elementary and middle school students. Breakaway has been assisting high school FIRST Robotics Teams and hosting robotics events throughout the year each year, including the FLL Searcy Qualifier, the offseason Ozark Mountain Brawl, the FIRST Kick-Off, and the Arkansas Rock City Regional. As one mentor from another Arkansas team once said, “Arkansas comes to FIRST through Breakaway.”
After losing in the semi-finals, we could hear the “there’s always Chairman’s” fallback phrase ringing in our ears, but given that we had not yet won Chairman’s, the spark of hope was still dim. Although we knew we deserved to win Chairman’s, we had not yet won it; and it seemed to be the elusive award that was just outside our grasp.
A strong alliance of teams Prometheus 2992, Torbotics 2080, and Wildcat Robotics 3039 won the regional. After the matches were completed, we all waiting for the judged awards to be announced, and then we would start the field take down process. We hoped at this point to receive some award, and in spite of our best efforts the Chairman’s Award still felt like a longshot.
In the next few moments, teams were called to the field to receive their awards and be congratulated by the line-up of judges. We stood and cheered and maintained a positive attitude. However, each time an award was given to another team, especially the strong Chairman’s teams, that spark of hope began to glow brighter. Each award given to another team meant that we were still in the running for the top prize.
As the most prestigious award, Chairman’s is always announced last. There we were at the end of a full week to see if this might be the year to break through. Below is a video of what happened next.
We finally heard the words we had been longing to hear since our program began. Breakaway 3937 won Chairman’s! With excitement and tears in many eyes, we marched down to the field, gave all the judges high-fives, and received the Chairman’s blue banner, trophy, and plaque. What a thrilling moment as a team for us to earn this award, qualify for the World Championship again, and lift up another notch as a program. Since 2012 we have qualified for Worlds each year except for one. Last year we won the Engineering Inspiration Award, which is also a world qualifying judged award, and this year we won Chairman’s. What a blessing it has been to work with this team that strives for excellence on and off the field and puts Christ first in everything we do! We praise God for these blessings and opportunities to make an impact!
The Chairman’s Award is a team award, and this year’s team stands on the shoulders of the previous teams that have built the program to this point. However, I would like to give special recognition to the super department we call Charketing, that is, the cooperation of Chairman’s and Marketing. This all female super department has worked hard since the school year began to maintain our outreach, grow our brand, and improve our vision telling. We congratulate Elizabeth Fisher, the Chairman’s chair, and her understudy Melody Brooks. We also congratulate Anna Westbrook, the Marketing chair, and her team consisting of Ashley Daughety, MG Watson, MaryElla Baker, and Stella Jones. In addition, I would like to thank Ian Daughety and AnnaBelle Boaz for their work in production and videography. Finally, the Chairman’s presenters, Elizabeth Fisher, Aubrey Jones, and Theo Westbrook deserve recognition for their excellent delivery of our message to the Chairman’s judges.
Next Up for Breakaway
Our next steps are to compete and hopefully win at the Bayou Regional in Kenner, Louisiana (March 20-23, 2019). We have a good history at Bayou, having won this regional in 2014, 2015, and 2017. After Bayou, we will prepare for the World Championship in Houston, Texas (April 17-20, 2019). While at Worlds our drive and scouting teams will compete hard and strive to go deeper into the competition than we have before. Our Charketing team will be representing Harding Academy, Searcy, and Arkansas in the Chairman’s competition. The winner of Chairman’s at Worlds earns the esteemed honor of being a FIRST Hall of Fame team. We have a lot to do between now and April!
We thank our sponsors for all of the support and encouragement we have received. We continue to look for partners and ways to expand STEM education and FIRST Robotics in Arkansas and the region. If you have ideas about ways to partner with us and to enhance our reach, we want to hear from you!
