CocoNuts Team Wins Major Award at Prestigious Robotics Competition.
Beyond just the robot, all their efforts paid off this spring when the high school’s CocoNuts robotics team won the prestigious FIRST Championship Impact Award during the 2024 FIRST Robotics Competition Championship event, from April 17-20 in Houston, Texas.
The CocoNuts stood out in a field of more than 1,000 teams from 58 counties that competed in front of 50,000 attendees during the challenging, fast-paced robotics competition.
For Kate Garrison, 16, who was the main robot driver and a build team member, being on the robotics team at school and taking their robot into competition has been a memorable and rewarding experience.
“The most exciting part of being on the team and creating the robot is getting to work with the other members of the team,” Garrison said. “I get to work with people who think the same way I do but may approach a problem differently than I do. All of our ideas combine to create a great robot. As the lead robot driver, I get to work side by side with people I would never get to meet otherwise, from countries all over the world.”
In general, Arizona did well at the competition. Representing less than 1% of competitors, Arizona students from FIRST Lego League (grades 4-8), FIRST Tech Challenge (grades 7-12) and FIRST Robotics Competition (grades 9-12) earned the FIRST Impact Award, Engineering Inspiration Award, Judge’s Choice Award, Engineering Excellence Award, Rising Stars Award, Dean’s List Award and were a part of the Winning Alliance.
Organizers say the FIRST Impact Award is not about the robot but celebrates a team’s positive contributions to their community. It is the highest honor given during the competition championship and recognizes the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and excels at embodying the purpose and goals of FIRST.
Christine Sapio has been teaching science, physics and AP physics at Coconino High School for 19 years. In 2007, she founded the CocoNuts robotics team with now retired Northern Arizona University Professor David Thompson.
This was the 17th season that Sapio and Thompson had coached the team. CocoNuts is open to all Coconino High School students and no application or tryouts are needed.
“We work to find a place on the team for any student who wants to participate,” said Sapio. “Some students want to work on the robot, some want to work on the advocacy and outreach. There’s something for everyone on the CocoNuts.”
Sapio also teaches in the Coconino Institute of Technology (CIT), which provides a unique science and engineering curriculum and social support within the larger high school environment.
For the CocoNuts, she coaches the outreach, advocacy and marketing team. Thompson works primarily with the technical team – programming, build and design, and driving.
Arizona FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), organizes and executes these robotic events. It is a program that connects students, educators, the community and the expanding technology industry in a collaborative effort to teach science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) principles through project-based robot building.
“The CocoNuts were honored with the FIRST Impact Award because of their extensive efforts to bring robotics to the Dine’ (Navajo) Reservation, a program they call RezBotics,” Sapio said, “and for running the FIRST Tech Challenge program for the whole state of Arizona, for their extensive STEM education advocacy efforts at the state and national levels and for their mentorship of rookie robotics teams across Flagstaff.”
Competing for the Impact Award Championship is no easy matter. Only teams that win the Impact Award at a regional event first are eligible to compete for the Championship Impact Award. To compete for Impact, teams prepare an essay, answer 13 specific executive summary questions about their work in the community and give a seven-minute prepared presentation to a panel of judges at competition. Eighty-five teams from around the world qualified to compete for the FIRST Impact Award at the Championship.
Elena Klopfenstein, 15, an Impact Presenter, recalled some of these challenges.
“It took us weeks to create, edit, polish and revise our Impact essay and presentation,” she said. “All the time we put into writing and practicing our presentation – eight hours on the bus to Utah, hallways at the competition, in the parking lot – it paid off because the finished product included not just our impact in the community and what we did for others, but also the emotional and personal stories of us CocoNuts. It moves people to tears when they hear it!”
In addition to the after-school robotics program, many students take classes during the day that help build skills that they use in robotics.
“For example, many of our students are members of the Coconino Institute of Technology and have received certification in SolidWorks (industry standard design software),” Sapio said. “Many also take advanced courses in science or engineering to help prepare them for majors and careers in engineering. “
For many of the team members, the actual construction of the robot presented continual challenges. Eugene Ellsworth Bowers, 17, was right in the middle of the project as lead robot designer and human player.
“The greatest challenge was constantly needing to iterate and redesign the robot for unseen obstacles that we encountered at competition,” Eugene explained. “For example, our note-launching mechanism had to be completely redesigned, rebuilt and reprogrammed in only two weeks leading up to World Championship because it didn’t handle variations in the game pieces well enough to be competitive.”
But, it’s not just about building a robot. Participating students learn a variety of associated skills, such as technical writing, public speaking, critical thinking, how to break down complex problems, data collection and analysis, marketing and fundraising, as well as specialized training in videography, photography, website and social media management.
They also learn how to work collaboratively as a diverse team and how to cooperate with different teams from all over the world. “Essentially these students are running a small business of their own,” said Sapio.
Many of the skills acquired in the study of robotics are what high-tech industries are looking for in their employees. “Many big-name tech companies sponsor FIRST teams because they want these students to come and work for their companies someday (ex: NASA, Boeing, Disney, Qualcomm, Apple, Google, Ford, Haas, and many more),” Sapio elaborated. “There is over $95 million in scholarships available from colleges to FIRST graduates! “
The CocoNuts team is almost 50% female. “Our girls excel not just at the writing, marketing, presenting, videography aspects of the team, but also in the engineering aspects,” she said. “Our team is often seen as a role model to other teams because our girls really shine in all areas! In the last three years, three girls from our team have been named Dean’s List finalists for their leadership on the team and dedication to the core values of FIRST.”
CocoNuts senior and member of the Impact crew, Alicia Clouser, 18, is experiencing how her earnest participation in the team at CHS is providing real workforce skills that will be necessary to become a leader in the ever-expanding world of technology.
“I plan to study environmental science with a minor in business in the Honors College at the University of New Mexico,” Alicia said. “The CocoNuts has given me the opportunity to be a role model for my people, especially for my family. I’ve been offered over $125,000 in scholarships because of this program!”
Sapio and Thompson plan on continuing their commitment to the CocoNuts team mission. “FIRST teams such as the CocoNuts change lives, and open doors to opportunities beyond high school for the participants,” Sapio said. “It’s why Dave and I continue to put thousands of hours into the team and into providing programs for teams around the state.” FBN
By Betsey Bruner, FBN
For more information, contact Thompson at dthompson@firstpartners.org or Sapio at csapio@firstpartners.org.
Courtesy Photo: CocoNuts coaches Dave Thompson (front row, far left) and Christine Sapio (front row, far right) celebrate the history-making win for Coconino High School with the robotics team students.
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