Members of and Indian Creek robotics team have spent hundreds of hours since January designing, building and competing with their robot, and they are just one competition away from earning a berth to state competition.
But even if they earn a spot at the state arena this weekend, they may not be able to go.
FRC Robotics Team 3180 needs at least $1,000 more in its coffers before it can take a team to the state competition, and robotics leaders are asking their community to rally around its students.
The team of about nine students at Indian Creek High School sold baked goods at a festival, applied for grants and looked for corporate sponsors to get the $5,000 needed to register for initial competitions and the supplies needed to build the robot.
"It’s like a basketball team winning sectional and then regional and semistate and saying, ‘Nope, you cannot go, you can’t afford it,’" coach Dwight Baxter said.
The state competition will be in Kokomo and has a $4,000 entry fee. The team would also need to find about $500 in estimated hotel and transportation fees that would need to be paid to allow the students to compete, Baxter said.
“If we are not prepared, if we do not have the funding to do that, it will keep us from being able to attend," he said.
Team members have earned some corporate sponsorships, but snagging enough sponsorships to sustain them through a season can be tough for the students, he said.
Trafalgar is a smaller community that does not have larger businesses and students do not always have what they need to ask for the sponsorships, such as a vehicle to get them to other towns that have businesses that may be able to help, Baxter said.
Also, businesses in other towns and cities are likely helping schools in those communities and have already agreed to other sponsorships for the year, he said.
“If we do not have an in with the company, it is really hard to get donations. They are asked by everybody," Baxter said.
The Indian Creek robotics team has struggled in past years. It did not have a leader at mid-season three years ago, and the team has had to turn down a state bid before because it couldn’t afford it, Baxter said.
“It is a really good experience for them. They get to compete against the best teams in the state," Baxter said. "They spent all of this time working on it. It would be a shame if they qualify, that they don’t get to go.”
Donations to the team’s state fund can be made at: gofundme.com/mechalosaurs-go-to-state.
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Hundreds of robotics students will be at Center Grove High School this weekend for a FIRST Robotics competition.
Since the game was revealed back in January, students have been brainstorming and drawing up designs for robots that will compete at several events this season.
Teams had about six weeks to build their robots, and now the competition season is underway. This event is the last in a series of three competitions that qualify teams to compete at the state championship, where teams will qualify to move on to the world championships.
The competition is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. today, and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday at Center Grove High School, 2717 S. Morgantown Road, Greenwood. Admission is free and the competition is open to the public.
The following local schools are competing:
- Red Alert from Center Grove High School
- MECHAlosaurs from Indian Creek High School
- Wired Warriors from Whiteland Community High School
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