West Cook News

The Forest Park school board recognized the middle school robotics team for rising above pressure and and peers for its inaugural competition.

"This was their first go around, and they should be very proud of themselves," Superintendent Elizabeth Alvarez said at the Jan. 12 meeting. "Our students handled the pressure. They maintained coolness and composure, all while exhibiting gracious professionalism to their competitors."

Alvarez introduced the nine students who made up the Energy Rangers team. The team went to the FIRST robotics competition at Clark Magnet School, which stood out as the first time participating in this competition for all of the fifth graders on the team. The team overcame any first-time jitters to earn fourth place in the Robot Table Rounds event. They impressed the judges with their efforts and values enough to receive the Rising Stars award, and students said they had an absolute blast the whole time they were there. 

The students came up to the podium to explain what they do on the team. They have four objectives: robot design, challenge, robot game and core values. The challenge this year was finding ways to store or distribute energy, and so the team chose an underwater compressed-air storage system as a new way to store large amounts of energy from wind and water turbines. Members built, programmed and operated their own robot, staying in the top four of the competition throughout the event. 

Team members' core values, which won them the Rising Star award, are an essential part of the FIRST robotics league. The competition puts an emphasis on gracious professionalism, team work and having fun.

The Energy Rangers thanked the board for the opportunity to present their work and for recognition of their achievements.