History
Part II: Sophomore Triumphs
Chapter I: A Bundle of N00bs Arrive
As a new year had begun we had a happy surprise. Freshmen! All new people we could mold into mini versions of us! We trained and bonded with the little ones. But as we were once set up at Ewing High School, our shop and all of our tools were moved to the beautiful welding shop at Marie Katzenbach School for the Deaf. We all had to spend time adjusting to the new surroundings and our large and rather spacious new shop. As the build season got underway we where met with some rough spots of the design but after some time we all where proud with our lovely creation: Vindicator!
Chapter II: Another Try at Trenton
As competition gave way, freshmen where bubbling with excitement. Seeing all the new sights and meeting all the people. We even had a newbie as our mascot! Our 6 ft tall gorilla shrunk to a 5 ft one. As the excitement grew and our robot sped its way through the track, an attempt to knock a ball down had hurt our arm past repair and we all sighed with sadness. Although we had lost we kept our heads held high and were ready for our next regional: Chesapeake!
Chapter III: The Annapolis, Maryland Jungle
We all had awaken early that morning in excitement, although some of us were to excited to sleep. Our 2nd chance had come to gain our ticket to Atlanta. The Mighty Monkey Wrenches stormed the bus with excitement as we made our way from our nests in Ewing New Jersey to our next obstacle. We made our one stop in Washington DC as we explored the streets and some museums with joy! We even made it onto FIRST Street! We saw the sights and explored our nation’s capital. We where pumped to find what another regional was like.
As we made our way to the regional we breathed in the fresh air and, in Mighty Monkey Wrench fashion, explored to our hearts content. We toured the Naval Academy and took in all that we could. As competition pursued however, we did better than expected! We where even picked in an alliance! What a great feeling that came over us! We continued on to the final matches; win after win, growing anxious and happier with every point as the chance grew closer and closer to another chance at Atlanta. Finally we had made it to the final match! We cheered and hoped and started to taste victory in our very mouths! And then as the last points were gained and the decision was made, we sprang up in victory with our alliance and all other teams rooting for us! We had done it! Our hard work has paid off with winning the Chesapeake Regional! With the joy and excitement still with us we where ready to take on Atlanta once more on another adventure!
Chapter IV: To Atlanta Once More
Now was another chance at it all. We had made our arrival and watched as our now more experienced freshmen did as we did the year before. We were ready to take whatever was in our way. We swung through the competition with some wins and loses while we made friends and gained more experience to how other teams were running. But as we made it through the competition and much to our surprise, we were picked to be in a Newton division alliance! We sped around the track as fast as our robot could and we tried so hard and came so close. However, we had only gotten in 2nd place in our division. We were proud but still our hearts ached at the lost. We were determined to win next year. Our goal was to come back and try harder.
Accomplishments
Sophomore Year
- Chesapeake Regional Champs!
- Newton Finalists in Atlanta!
- Second Fastest FIRST Robot in the World!
- Vindicator is in the "Top 10" List of Robots by Popular Mechanics Online
Our Robots
- 2007-2008; Vindicator
- 2007-2008; Dirty Harry
