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One of the Moorestown Friends Robotics teams, the MFS Hawks, has been selected as a 2015-16 New Jersey FIRST Tech Challenge Showcase Team. Showcase Teams are chosen by New Jersey FTC to be active representatives of the robotics program, and they play a key role in statewide outreach efforts.

The FIRST Tech Challenge is a robotics competition for students in Grades 7-12, where students are tasked with designing, building, and programming their robots to contend in an alliance with other teams. Teams are required to develop strategy based on sound engineering principles, and awards are given for the competition as well as for community outreach, design, and other real-world accomplishments. Because a team can only host a maximum of 15 students, MFS engages two teams, the MFS Hawks and the MFS Foxes.

In anticipation of upcoming competitions, the MFS Hawks Team 237 has been posting videos of their robot designs on YouTube, which began initially as a form of outreach to other FTC teams as a way to share information.

“We have reached over 10,000 views of our channel, more than 9,000 views in the last three weeks alone,” said Robotics coach Michael Omilian. “We have had many teams email us for the CAD designs of our wheels, which are a unique 3D-printed design created by Travis Benedict ’16.”

At the Central Region FTC at Brunswick Eruption Meet at North Brunswick High School on November 7, both Robotics teams performed well. The MFS Hawks won the PTC Design Award for Outstanding Engineering Notebook and were part of the third place alliance. Team members (featured in photo) included Travis Benedict ’16, Colin Kirby ’16, Ahimsa Aradhya ’17, and Ryan Baker ’16. The MFS Foxes were part of the first-place alliance. Team members included Leah Gimeno ’17, Italia Vitella ’19, Michel McFadden ’19, and Michael Cherfane ’18.

This is the eighth year that the MFS Hawks and MFS Foxes have competed in the New Jersey FTC competition.