After qualifying for regionals in Duluth and beating 60 different schools, the Patriotics robotics team at Pequot Lakes High School is headed to Houston, Texas for the 2023 FIRST Championship next month.

In an effort to make this dream come true, they’ve been raising funds for travel expenses. To offset the costs, students recently held a fundraiser after school selling a variety of Heggies frozen pizzas.

To start preparing each year, the FIRST robotics organization comes out with different games and field elements for robots to move around and be scored on. Each team is given eight weeks to figure out a strategy and design, build, program, and have a robot operating before the deadline arrives.

The Patriotics team spends two hours a day after school and eight hours every Saturday to make sure their robot is well prepared against other opponents. With all that hard work, this is more than a project for students, and anyone that joins the team can learn from the experience and contribute to it.

“If there’s one thing students could take away from FIRST Robotics, I think it’s really anyone, even if you don’t have engineering ability before you join FIRST Robotics, can make a team better, and by cooperating, you can make a team successful and to go places,” said senior Tyler Hushagen.

Updates on the Pequot Lakes Patriotics can be found on their Facebook page.

By — Hanky Hazelton