The Huntington High School robotics team is more than just a group of technologically savvy teenagers. These are really good people, too.
The Blue Devils love challenges, to be sure, and enjoy using every last ounce of their intellectual wits to work through daunting obstacles. But they also enjoy making their community a better place and serving the less fortunate and those in need of a helping hand.
Founded in 2013, Huntington Robotics is led by Alex Frawley (captain), Luke Rinaldi (vice-captain), Sydney Cordeiro (chief business officer) and Anthony Amitrano (chief technical officer). Teachers Brian Reynolds and Omar Santiago are the team’s faculty advisors. Retired Huntington UFSD teacher Edward Parry volunteers his time with the group.
“Despite not being able to work in person right now, we’ve come up with solutions to help our team advance in any way we can,” Mr. Frawley said. “Our business team has been focusing on the Chairman’s Award, which is the most prestigious award at FIRST, meant to be given to the team which best embodies the mission of FIRST.”
The FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) organization encourages young people to pursue careers in engineering and science by showing them how interesting and fun those fields can be.
“Our mission is to show students of every age that science, technology and problem-solving are not only fun and rewarding, but are proven paths to successful careers and a bright future for us all,” states the FIRST website.
“The team has been working hard on the Chairman’s Award as the deadline is February 25 and we are highlighting our impact in the community,” Mr. Frawley said. “The rest of the team is working on the robot remotely making suggestions and improvements. This gives members a chance to embrace the skills and challenges involved while staying home.”
This year’s FIRST robotics game is called Infinite Recharge. Teams from across the world are permitted to compete remotely this year.
“As we complete our Chairman’s Award tasks, the team will begin to shift our focus toward the Game Design challenge, which is due in March,” Mr. Frawley said. “This is a new remote challenge for this year in which teams around the world will submit one game idea, which could potentially be used by the FIRST organization in a future competition.”
Huntington Robotics put together “to-go” lunch bags and donated them to the Huntington Interfaith Homeless Initiative for distribution to those desperately in need.
“Our team gathered, assembled and delivered these bags for 20 guests,” Mr. Frawley said. “Due to the pandemic, we’re only having four team members participate in this event to ensure the health and safety of our students. Fortunately, this event was relayed to us by one of our alumni. This illustrates the value of our Huntington Robotics Alumni Association which we are currently in the process of establishing. In the future our team’s alumni will always be expanding through the self-input of information under the alumni subpage of our website.”
Students interested in joining the Blue Devil robotics squad can send a message to huntingtonrobotics@gmail.com. Visit the team’s website at www.team5016.com for more information.
“All of our projects have been planned on a month by month basis, to accommodate the changes in COVID restrictions and keep the team ready for a chance to work in the woodshop again,” Mr. Frawley said. “We try to have a flexible schedule as well as a flexible team.”