Through tremendous effort this season, the award-winning Newton Ligerbots have succeeded in sending their robot on a 1,143-mile mission… to St. Louis! Now they need your financial support so the robot can complete its mission at the biggest robotics competition in the world.
As reported in NewtonSTEM, the Ligerbots team — of 46 students from Newton North and Newton South — has qualified for the biggest high-school Science/Technology/Engineering/Math competition in the world: the FIRST Robotics Competition World Championship, to be held April 23-26 in St. Louis.
Usually the Ligerbots participate in only two events a year, but this year they 1) won the WPI District competition, 2) were on the 2nd-placed Alliance at the Northeastern District Competition, and then 3) entered the Regional Championship at BU last week ranked 8th in New England.
Their coveted invitation to the World Championship comes just as the team’s accounts are depleted by the above events. The expected costs for the World Championship: a $5,000 team registration fee plus almost $30,000 in travel and lodging for students and coaches/chaperones.
This week the team secured grants totaling just over $12,000 from NDEP, PTC, Textron, FedEx, and Newton Public Schools specifically for the championship. And the Ligerbots’ families are ready to pay substantial amounts to make this happen — but not all families can afford it.
The Ligerbots seek donations so that any team member who wants to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime experience can do so. Tax-deductible donations can be made via the Newton Schools Foundation online, by phone, or by check.
You beat me to the post Bruce! Yes, please donate. My son is on this team and they’ve worked incredibly hard. They went through a 6-week build season and then a number of multi-day competitions. In St. Louis they’ll not only get a chance to compete against the best in the world, but to meet other kids who looked at the same design challenge through a much different lens.