The St. Michael's Blue Dragons had a wonderful
time in Atlanta. It is an experience I would recommend for
everyone. They met people they would not otherwise have been able to
meet. They were tickled, as was I, when George Bush, Sr (41) spoke at
the FIRST opening ceremony. Best line of the event came
from him. It went something like this: "FIRST is like WWF for smart
people."
We met people from all over the world. The
team that took the Champion's Award came all the way from
Singapore.
We tried our best to represent Va/DC
FLL well. Our robot did well on the tables but not quite well enough with
all of the stiff competition. Much like last year, there were two teams
that ran three 400 point rounds and then another nine or ten teams that had
at least one 400 round. Our high rounds of 375 landed us somewhere in
the top 30+. The Blue Dragons competed hard and with gracious
professionalism as did the rest of the teams.
At the FLL closing ceremony, the Blue Dragons
were awarded an Honorable Mention for Innovative Robot Design. The
team was thrilled.
I have attached one picture. It
is of the Va/DC FLL teams totem pole. The team decided to make the
totem pole with all of the Va and DC teams instead of putting them on the
banner. It turned out very nice.
Many thanks to Va/DC FLL for allowing The St.
Michael's Blue Dragons to represent Virginia at the World Festival.
Lloyd O'Hara
Coach,
St. Michael's Blue Dragons
Team # 2430