Students and Volunteers Recognized for their Efforts at the FIRST Championship

Students and Volunteers Recognized for their Efforts at the FIRST Championship Students and Volunteers Recognized for their Efforts at the FIRST Championship Students and Volunteers Recognized for their Efforts at the FIRST ChampionshipMembers of the Winning Alliance realize they have just won the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship, which was held in St. Louis, Mo., last month. An alliance of four student gruppes from California, Michigan and Texas took top honors as the winners at the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Championship in St. Louis, Mo., late last month. But there were also a number of other winners at the action-packed event, including the 13 parteicipants who were awarded ASME FIRST-Clarke Scholarships and Cynthia Stong, a longtime volunteer with both ASME and the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) program, who was honored with a special award recognizing her service as a chief judge for the competition. In this years FRC ch allenge, Aerial Assist, alliances of high school student teams worked together, using the robots they constructed, to score points by catching balls, tossing them over a truss, and placing them into goals. Some 400 student teams took part in the Championship round of the competition. At the end, four teams emerged as the competitions Winning Alliance gruppe 254, The Cheesy Poofs, from San Jose, Calif. Team 469, Las Guerrillas, from Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Team 2848, The All Sparks, of Dallas, Texas and Team 74, Team C.H.A.O.S., Holland, Mich. ASME member Julie Bachmann Kulik (right), mentor for second-place alliance Team 1640, attended the FIRST Championship with her husband, Richard, and their daughter, Caitlyn. Taking second place at the FRC Championship were the alliance of Team 1678, Citrus Circuits, Davis, Calif. Team 1114, Simbotics, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Team 1640, Sab-BOT-age, Downingtown, Pa. and Team 5136, Mechapirates, Santa Ynez, Calif. ASME member Julie Bachmann Kulik served as an engineering mentor for the Sab-BOT-age team. This year, ASME recognized 13 graduating seniors with ASME Foundation-ASME Auxiliary FIRST Clarke Scholarships for their contributions to their particular FIRST Robotics teams. The $5,000 scholarships are designated to fund each students first year of study in an ABET-accredited mechanical engineering or mechanical engineering technology program. Winners of the 2014 FIRST-Clarke Scholarships included James Bateman of the Ashbury School in Madison Ala., who will attend Auburn University this fall Fletcher Blue from Hardin Valley Academy, in Knoxville, Tenn., who will attend Johns Hopkins University Joseph Diamond from Metro Early College High School in Columbus, Ohio, who will enroll in Massachusetts Institute of Technology Matthew Gorton of the Early College at Guilford in Greensboro, N.C., who will attend North Carolina State University Brian Hilllenbrand of Veritas School in Newberg,Ore., who will go to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Adeline Longstreth from Francis Parker School in San Diego, Calif., who will attend Georgia Institute of Technology and Derek Moore from Clover High School in Clover, South Carolina, who will study at Clemson University. FRC Volunteer of the Year Award winners Cynthia Stong, ASME senior vice president, and Allen Bancroft. Also receiving FIRST-Clarke Scholarships this year were Alexander Nie of North High School in Phoenix, Ariz., who will enroll at Arizona State University Robert Nogaj from Peoria Notre Dame High School in Peoria, Ill., who will attend the University of Dayton Titus Shumaker from Oxford High School in Oxford, Mich., who will go to Kettering University Joshua Smith of Loveland High School in Loveland, Colo., who will study at Colorado State University Marcus Thompson of Topsail High School in Hampstead, N.C., who will enroll at the University of North Carolina at Asheville and Kaia Williams from P alisade High School in Palisade, Colo., who will attend the University of Rochester. Cynthia Stong, who is currently senior vice president of ASMEs Student and Early Career Development Sector, was also honored at this years FIRST Championship. Stong and fellow FIRST volunteer Allen Bancroft, who both serve as co-chief judge advisors for the competition, received the FRC Volunteer of the Year Award at the Championship in St. Louis. As co-chief judge advisors, Stong and Bancroft prepare and train all FRC judge advisors for the programs more than 70 regional competitions, in addition to overseeing more than 100 judges at the FIRST Championship. Stong, who retired from the Boeing Co. after 30 years and lives in New Mexico, began her involvement with FIRST as a judge at a FIRST regional tournament in Seattle 12 years ago. After two years as a judge, she served as judge advisor before becoming the co-chief judge advisor six years ago. I got the outstanding volunteer award for the F IRST Microsoft Seattle Regional in 2009, she said. So I was really surprised to get this award at Championships In addition to her judging duties, Stong also mentors a FIRST Robotics team in Las Cruces, N.M., and is planning to start a new high school team in Alamogordo, N.M., this fall. In addition to the final FIRST Robotics Competition, the FIRST Championship in St. Louis also featured three other events the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship for high school students, the FIRST Lego League World Festival for students age 9-16, and the FIRST Lego League Jr. World Festival Expo for students age 6-9. For the complete list of FIRST Robotics Championship award winners, and information on the other FIRST events in St. Louis, visit www3.usfirst.org.