The Heritage robotics program, HMS TI Industries, took 15 students to the Lubbock First Tech Challenge tournament, where they showed off their teamwork and critical thinking skills as they attacked this season’s challenges.  

At the tournament, Heritage team TI RoboTigers w/h Fr3d took home the Innovative Award and securing a spot to compete in the Regional FTC Tournament to compete against teams from Amarillo and El Paso areas.  

The Innovate Award celebrates a team that thinks imaginatively and has the ingenuity, creativity, and inventiveness to make their designs come to life. This judged award is given to the team that has an innovative and creative robot design solution to any specific components in the FIRST Tech Challenge game. Elements of this award include elegant design, robustness, and ‘out of the box’ thinking related to design. The TI RoboTigers w/h Fr3d design process and critical thinking throughout the season was shown throughout their engineering portfolio to capture the award. 

The TI Mighty Ducks, earned 2nd place in the Connect Award and the TIm1nat0rs, took 3rd place. The Connect Award is given to the team that most connects with their local science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) community. They showed that a true FIRST team is more than the sum of its parts and recognizes that engaging their local STEM community plays an essential part in their success. 

Together, the TI Mighty Ducks and the TIm1nat0rs collaborated with the FE Tigers, the Frenship High School robotics team. Joined as one, the FE Tigers mentored these teams as part of the STEM and First Inspires community. 

The HMS TI Industries continues to show growth and excitement in the students. They look forward to collaborating with the local community by providing awareness of the program and showcasing their students desire for success. In the upcoming months, they will be providing outreach to the Frenship elementaries to energize and excite elementary students in what middle school has to offer. The future is bright for STEM at Frenship!