SHARON, Pa. – The Sharon Tiger Techs robotics team recently earned the First Place Core Values Award at the First Lego League Western Edge Invitational in Long Beach, Calif.
During the competition, the Sharon team competed against 88 teams from around the world.
The Core Values Award recognizes a team that exemplifies exceptional teamwork, respect, inclusion and gracious professionalism throughout the season. In addition to the team’s achievement, coach Dave Tomko was honored with the event’s Coach of the Year Award, recognizing his dedication to students and his long-standing commitment to robotics education.
The Sharon Tiger Techs is part of First Lego League, a global robotics program under the organization First – or For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.
The Sharon team, composed of students in grades four through nine, advanced to the international competition after a successful season in Pennsylvania. The team qualified for the event by earning the Second Place Innovation Project Award at the First Lego League Pennsylvania State Championship, where it competed against 36 of the top teams in the state, representing more than 400 teams statewide.
Before the state championship, the Sharon team earned First Place Overall and achieved the highest robot performance score among 30 teams at the Penn State Behrend Regional Qualifier.
Throughout the nine-month season, team members designed, built and programmed a Lego Spike Prime robot to compete in this year’s First Lego League challenge, which focused on exploration and discovery. The competition required teams to complete a series of autonomous missions while demonstrating technical skills, innovation and teamwork.
In addition to the robot competition, the Tiger Techs developed an innovative solution to a real-world archaeology challenge. Their project, called the Retract-A-Meter, is designed to help archaeologists quickly and accurately measure excavation grids, improving efficiency and consistency during fieldwork.
Team members regularly host robotics camps for younger students, provide robotics badge workshops for Girl Scouts, collaborate with industry professionals and have shared their work with a member of the U.S. Congress during a visit to Washington, D.C.
Pictured at top: From left are coach Dave Tomko, Logan Bush, Roman Adamo, Saige Metro, Logan Patek, Olivia Totin, Jasper Stanisy, Sawyer Stanisky, Luca Paoletta, Leah Crytzer, Mary Nespor and coach Kelly Roys.