Tekonsha Community Schools

It was a very eventful Spring Break for the Tekonsha Robotics Team, T-Town Tech. The team completed their second season event, taking another first place at the Central Michigan University event. They then ended the season with a qualifying score to participate in the FIRST Robotics Michigan State Championship Event held at Saginaw Valley State University on April 4-6th! Our of more than 500 teams across the state, T-Town Tech finished 81st!

To best understand the rankings and success of the team, it is important to understand how the competitions work. FIRST competitions are different than than most other sports, as teams compete within "alliances." Each match consists of three different teams working together in an alliance against another three teams. In all of the preliminary matches, teams compete both with and against all of the other teams. This allows each team to not only earn a ranking based on matches won and points earned within the match, but also for teams to see the unique strengths that each individual robot contributes to an alliance. The top 8 ranked teams at the end of the preliminary play then have the opportunity to advance into a double elimination tournament. They also select the two teams that they would like to join them as part of their tournament alliance.

The team traveled to Battle Creek Central High School to compete in their first competition of the season from March 2-3. It was an amazing meet, ending with T-Town Tech competing in Alliance 1, taking home the gold medal with their alliance members The Comets (#3357) from Forest Hills schools and ZooBOTix (#6002) from Kalamazoo Central HS. They were also awarded the judges' safety award at this meet.

They then traveled to Central Michigan University this past weekend on March 29-30, where they again were selected to be part of Alliance 1 going into the finals. Rounding out the championship alliance were Volts Squared (#5505) from Alpena HS and the EngiNERDs (#2337) from Grand Blanc HS.

The final matches were a best of 2 out of 3 matches. The T-Town Tech alliance lost their first finals match. However, the alliance rebounded quickly, with strong wins in the next two matches to secure the championship win! Additionally, T-Town Tech was again awarded the judges' safety award for the individual work done by members Preston Pombier and Aundrea Gay to educate and promote safety.

The team will now travel to SVSU to compete at the state meet this coming weekend. If you would like to support the team, there is an additional cost of $4000 for the registration and participation in this event, so any additional sponsorships of the team are greatly appreciated! Any donations can be dropped off at the HS office. Checks can be made out to Tekonsha Community Schools.

Additionally, a limited number of T-Town Tech t-shirts are still available for sale (cash or check only - made out to Tekonsha High School) at the cost of $10 each. Please stop by the HS office if you are interested. When we have the link of the live stream available, we will post in on the district Facebook page!

Good luck and congratulations to all of the T-Town Tech team members: Vayda Nyland, Preston Pombier, Barric Groholske, Brandon Sammons, and Aundrea Gay. Special shout-out to coaches Ryan Groholske and Matt Lindsey, and team mom, Krista Groholske!

• Tekonsha Fire Department
• Bronze Sponsor- Rosemary & Ronald Harvey
• Silver - Jeff & Tina Klingaman
• Silver - Veator Financial Group
• Silver - Adam's Shirt Shack
• Silver - Casey Daws
• Gold - The Kendall Group
• Gold - Hampton Homes
• Platinum - Asama
• Platinum - Value Max
• Diamond - Jorgensen Steel
• Diamond Sponsor- Spartan Ins.
  
• Diamond Sponsor -J & J
• Diamond Sponsor- Hampton Games.
• Diamond Sponsor- Groholske Farms
• Diamond Sponsor - M & K Transport
• Diamond Sponsor - Phillips 66
• Diamond Sponsor - Ford Motor Company
• Diamond Sponsor - The Tekonsha Giving Circle
• All of the individual donations and giving through the Brats for Bots, T-shirt sales, and personal donations!