FTC team Turtle TEK won the Think Award at the Battle of Brookfield on Feb. 11. Back row, from left: Ted Wilder, Garrett Schnieder, Jordan Shultz, Xavier Miller, Isaac Kubatzke, and Mike Schnieder. Front row: Kelby Schnieder, Katherine Woodard, Loretta Woodard, and Heather Schnieder.  (Submitted photo)

Turtle TEK success continues with Thumb Wars and Battle of Brookfield

Turtle TEK, a local high school FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) robotics team, has had continued success at two recent competitions – Thumb Wars in New Berlin and the Battle of Brookfield in Brookfield. These are in addition to their incredible success at their first competition, Neo-Titans, where they were Inspire winners, as well as fourth-seed alliance captains. They have continued to have success in both the judged awards and on the robot game field.

At their most recent qualifier, the team was picked as part of the third-seed alliance in the robot games with top teams Alien from Greendale and Supposable Thumbs from New Berlin. The first five matches of the day were played with randomly selected partners, which determined ranking. The top four teams then selected their alliance partners for the semi-final rounds. Turtle TEK was excited to be a part of such a strong alliance.

At both the Battle of Brookfield and Thumb Wars events, Turtle TEK won the Think Award. This judged award is given to the team that best reflects the journey the team took as they experienced the engineering design process during the build season. The engineering content within the portfolio is the key reference for judges to help identify the most deserving team. The team’s engineering content must focus on the design and build stage of the team’s robot. This is the highest award Turtle TEK could earn at these qualifiers, so it was an honor to do so at both tournaments.

Turtle TEK also won the second place Motivate award at Battle of Brookfield. To win Motivate, the team must embrace the culture of FIRST and clearly show what it means to be a team. This judged award celebrates the team that represents the essence of the FIRST Tech Challenge competition through “Gracious Professionalism” and general enthusiasm for the overall philosophy of FIRST and what it means to be a FIRST Tech Challenge team. They made a collective effort to make FIRST known throughout their community, and spark others to embrace the culture of FIRST.

Turtle TEK is currently preparing for the State Championship on  Saturday, March 2 at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. As this season comes to a close, the team is welcoming high school students who are interested in learning about FIRST Tech Challenge robotics to their practices until Feb. 29. High school students who are interested in learning about robot building, Java coding, graphic and web design, or video work, should fill out the Google form and will be contacted with a date to visit practice: tinyurl.com/43u2msdv

Anyone interested in supporting Turtle TEK or with questions should email ftcturletek@gmail.com.