238 competed in the Daly Division as one of 68 teams. Our team did very well in the qualification matches, all held on Thursday and Friday of the event. We won the majority of our matches, ending the qualification matches with eight wins and only two losses. In each match but one we were able to score more than 300 points eventually resulting in us being ranked 5th at the end of the qualifications. At one point in the qualification matches we were ranked 1st which was exciting for not only the team, but everyone who has connections to the team.

We played VERY well in this competition and scouting was one of the most important contributors to this outcome. We started out the competition with an organized schedule of when certain people were going to scout. This system allowed for students to have the time to walk around the competition to get the whole experience. We also knew the competition days were going to be very long, and didn’t want the students to overexert themselves. This schedule worked very well, and students followed it for the most part. We had runners who would take our scouting sheets down to the pits where our scanner was in order to get the data into our scouting database. The students did this efficiently, making it easy for our drive team to get data about the teams in the next match.

Placing 5th at the end of qualifications, we knew we were going to be doing alliance picking. At the end of the day on Friday, many of the students and mentors sat down to make a pick list of teams we wanted to alliance with. It was an extensive process, but it was worth it to get an alliance that worked well with our strategies. The list was based off of the data that our scouters collected throughout the competition. We also re-watched matches to double check the teams that we put on our list. In the end, we had a full list of teams of which we could choose from at alliance picking.

We started off Saturday with Alliance Selection. Due to selections within the top 8, we moved up to be the captains of the 4th seeded alliance. We chose teams 1285 The Big Bang, 5406 Celt-X, and 66 Grizzly Robotics.

Just like our District Championship competition, two of our students got the chance to be Student Ambassadors. Those students gave people tours around the arena, directions to anyone who needed them, and gave out information about the competition and FIRST. One big thing that our ambassadors got to do was show around Charlie Ackerman and other representatives from Bosch. Bosch is one of our team’s largest sponsors, and it was nice for our students to see the impact they have on other teams and the FIRST program. Our students gave Bosch a full tour and noted how engaged they were in the FIRST program, as are so many of our wonderful sponsors. Being a Student Ambassador at FIRST Championship was an amazing experience for our students to have.

Arch

Wednesday was our first day in St. Louis, Missouri. Our team visited the Gateway Arch and the whole team had the opportunity to ride a tram up to the top of the Arch. At the top, we had a breathtaking view of the city of St. Louis and the Mississippi River. The students really enjoyed this experience as our introduction to the week ahead of us.

River Cruise

Team 238 joined teams 125, 2067, and 6763 to go on a river cruise on the Mississippi River. On the cruise, we received a scenic tour of the river. We were able to bond with members of the other three teams, which our students loved! We met many new people, and had a ton of fun doing it. We look forward to doing more things like this with other teams in the future.

Closing Ceremonies

Right after the Finals in Einstein (the last field in the championships), we concluded the competition with a closing ceremony. The closing ceremonies started out with a parade of all the teams from different places around the world. Dean then gave a wonderful speech of how he’s amazed at this year’s world championship at St. Louis. He explained how proud he was about how much St. Louis did for the FIRST community and announced that next year’s championship will be hosted in Detroit, Michigan. After his speech, they called down the semi-finalist and finalist alliances in Einstein to congratulate them for making it so far. Both alliances got their banners and trophies in high spirit. The closing ceremonies ended off with a big entertainment, including BMX bikes and a trampoline show. The closing ceremonies were so much fun and we are excited we got the opportunity to attend.