The South Portland High School Robotics Team 58, known as the “Riot Crew,” competed at the FIRST Robotics Competition in Houston last week, finishing with a record of five wins and five losses in the team-based Crescendo competition. The robots competed in a wide range of games, including shooting rings into goals to score points.
The team members representing South Portland in Houston were Wendy Dow-Needham, Nick Anastasoff, Seth Jewell, Sam Stocks, Gavin Sturges, Matthew Duffy, and Ashlee Bouchard. They were supported by coach Sean Manning and mentor Sam Nordberg.
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a non-profit organization that aims to inspire young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The FIRST Robotics Competition is one of the organization’s flagship programs, and it challenges high school students to design, build, and program robots to compete in a series of games.