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A view of the RoboHawks robot in action (top photo) on the competition floor at the FIRST Robotics Competition St. Louis Regional. Team 1985, the RoboHawks (bottom photo)  operate their robot at the FIRST Robotics Competition St. Louis Regional.

The Hazelwood Central High School RoboHawks earned first place at the FIRST Robotics Competition St. Louis Regional, held at Chaifetz Arena on the campus of Saint Louis University.

As many students were enjoying time off from school for spring break, the RoboHawks, also known as Team 1985, were actively competing in matches among 28 teams at the event. An alliance with teams from Camdenton and University City high schools helped the RoboHawks earn first place at the competition.

The team is lead by captains Luther Banner, Evan Mensinger and Jaylen Taylor. All are juniors. The club sponsor is Katie Allen, a mathematics teacher at Hazelwood Central.

Not only did the team win the event, they were presented an Excellence in Engineering Award, and Banner received the FIRST Dean’s List award. He was one of two students at the regional competition to receive the honor.

“It’s an award for a student who exemplifies FIRST,” said Banner, who was surprised to hear his name called in an announcement. “I literally turned around, and was like ‘What?’”

The FIRST website describes the Dean’s List honor as recognition of “members of the FIRST community who excel as student leaders and lead their teams and communities to increased awareness of the mission of FIRST.”

Banner said that each team can submit nominations for two students. Taylor was also nominated.

Reflecting on the competition, Banner and teammate Kelsi Washington, a junior, said the team was ranked first throughout the event, losing only one match out of 11.

“During qualifying rounds, we were ranked between first and third place,” Washington said. “During eliminations, we only had one low score.”

The victory gives the team the opportunity to compete at the FIRST Championship, April 27-30, at the Edward Jones Dome in downtown St. Louis.

Banner and Washington spoke about the team’s plans to prepare for the next level. To begin, the team must follow competition rules for using the same robot. After the regional event, the robot was packaged and shipped to storage until nationals.

“We are able to hold back 30 lbs of material, so we took off the gripper and the minibot. You can tweak the materials that are held back, and then add it back to the robot at nationals,” said Washington.

“We’ll make adjustments based on what we saw at both regionals,” added Banner. The team participated in a regional event in Kansas City a week before competing in St. Louis.

“We’re going to work toward the Chairman’s Award for next year, too. We need to do more community outreach and get the word out about FIRST,” Washington said. The award’s purpose is to “inspire greater levels of respect and honor for science and technology, as well as encourage more of today’s youth to become scientists, engineers and technologists.”

To increase community outreach, Banner and Washington agreed that it’s important “to build awareness about what FIRST is, not what’s seen on television.”

“Robotics is not a death-match,” said Washington.

“People are scared of robotics because they think they have to be smart to get involved,” Banner said.

Both have been interested in FIRST since elementary school, and joined the RoboHawks as freshmen. Through their participation in the program, they have developed an appreciation for its purpose,

and are both interested in studying civil or mechanical engineering in college.

“FIRST makes you aware of the field of science and technology, but it teaches you stuff beyond that,” said Banner.

“You develop skills in leadership, business management, teamwork and just about anything you can think of,” said Washington.

“There is the competition aspect. You learn to work with those who could be your opponents in a professional, gracious way,” Banner continued.

FIRST has made a difference in each of their lives.

“For me, FIRST is a safe-haven. It’s something to put my energy into. I’ve had fun, interesting experiences. Overall, it’s a learning experience, and it has made my interest in engineering even greater,” said Washington.

“It’s been life-changing for me,” said Banner. “I joined FIRST after an injury in football when I was a freshman. At first, I was sort of just there, but after a while, I became a leader. Now I’m a captain.”

Allen said the team, parents and mentors were excited about winning first place.

“It was so nice to have such a positive outcome after all of the hours we invested,” Allen said.“In addition to lots of fundraising to pay for the competition, we will meet to make small improvements, as well as develop strategies for success at the championship.”

An added benefit to competing nationally is that approximately $14 million in scholarships are offered at nationals. Banner and Washington said that 60 percent of the scholarships are for those who want to study engineering and technology, and the remaining 40 percent are for those who participated in FIRST, but will study outside of the field. (story courtesy of the Hazelwood District Communications Dept.)

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