High School Teams from Kintnersville, Penn., North Brunswick and Trenton, N.J. Win...

High School Teams from Kintnersville, Penn., North Brunswick and Trenton, N.J.
Win 2008 New Jersey FIRST Robotics Competition
Three-Team Alliance First in Field of 63 High School Teams

TRENTON, N.J., March 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Demonstrating superior strategy,
technical skill and gracious professionalism, three high school teams
maneuvered their robots to victory and together won the 2008 New Jersey FIRST
Regional Robotics Competition, sponsored by Johnson & Johnson. FIRST (For
Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a nonprofit
organization dedicated to introducing young people around the world to the
excitement of science, math, engineering and technology. The winning alliance
comprised:
-- Cybersonics from Palisades High School, Kintnersville, Penn.,
sponsored by Amplifier Research, Lutron Electronics, Beckman Coulter,
BAE Systems, Custom Finishers, Day Tool, Harro Hoflinger, Glen
Magnetics, Hot Chalk, PH Tool, LRIG Pathology Group of Doylestown;
-- Raider Robotix from North Brunswick Township High School, North
Brunswick, N.J., sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb, Infrared Remote
Solutions/NASA; and,
-- Tornadoes from Trenton Central High School, sponsored by Bristol
Myers Squibb.

The second place alliance comprised:

-- The Brigade from Aberdeen High School, Aberdeen, Md., sponsored by
the Army Research Laboratory, Black & Decker and Interactive
Research;
-- MORT from Mt. Olive High School, Flanders, N.J., sponsored by
Givaudan, John and Margaret Post Foundation, and Siemens; and,
-- NEMESIS from Robinnsville High School, Robbinsville, N.J., sponsored
by Washington Educational Foundation, NASA and Wham Engineering.
It was the first year of competition for the Robbinsville team.

The prestigious Chairman's Award for the New Jersey Regional Competition
went to the team from Pascack Valley Regional High School, Montvale, N.J. The
team, called the Pascack PI-oneers, was honored because the judges believe it
represents a great model for other teams to emulate and embodies the goals and
purpose of FIRST. In winning the award, the Pascack team received a reserved
slot for the national 2008 FIRST Championship in Atlanta April 17- 19 and will
compete against winners from the other 40 FIRST regional contests for the
overall Chairman's Award.
The two-day competition took place at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton,
February 29 - March 1. Sixty-three teams, comprising more than 2,000 high
school students, competed. There were 59 returning teams and four rookie teams
from: Delaware (one team); Maryland (four teams); Florida (one team); New
Jersey (50 teams); New York (one team); Ontario, Canada (one team); and,
Pennsylvania (five teams). Additional awards for creativity, design,
sportsmanship and other objectives of the FIRST organization were also
presented. (See complete list below.)
Expressly for high school students, FIRST Robotics is one of several
programs created by FIRST, a 501c3 nonprofit headquartered in Manchester, NH,
which was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen. For more information about the FIRST
organization, visit www.usfirst.org. Information on the Robotics Competition
may be found by clicking on "First Robotics."
2008 NJ FIRST ROBOTICS AWARDS

General Motors Industrial Design Award
-- Team #108, SigmaC@T
Taravella High School, Ft. Lauderdale, Fl.

Motorola Quality Award
-- Team #816, the Panthers
Burlington County Institute of Technology, Westhampton, N.J.

Johnson & Johnson Gracious Professionalism Award and Website Award
-- Team #1089, Mercury
Hightstown High School, Hightstown, N.J.

Chrysler Team Spirit Award
-- Team #1547, Where's Waldo
Trafalgar Castle School, Whitby, Ontario, Canada

Judges Award for Exceptional Mentorship
-- Team #1617, The Almighty Bulldogs
Malcolm X. Shabazz High School, Newark, N.J.

Rookie Inspiration Award
-- Team #2458, Chaos
Gill St. Bernards High School, Gladstone, N.J.

Rookie All Star Award and Highest Rookie Seed Award
-- Team #2590, NEMESIS
Robbinsville High School, Robbinsville, N.J.

Underwriter Laboratories Industrial Safety Award and Autodesk
Visualization Award -- Team #303, Panther Robotics
Bridgewater Raritan Regional High School, Bridgewater, N.J.

Engineering Inspiration Award
-- Team #1403, Cougar Robotics
Montgomery High School, Skillman, N.J.

Regional Chairman's Award
-- Team #1676, Pascack PI-oneers
Pascack Valley Regional High School, Montvale, N.J.

Imagery Award
-- Team #223, Xtreme Heat
Lakeland Regional High School and Piscataway Vo-Tech, Piscataway,
N.J.

Rockwell Automation Innovation in Control Award
-- Team #103, Cybersonics
Palisades High School, Kintnersville, Penn.

Xerox Creativity Award
-- Team #219, Impact
Warren Hills High School, Washington, N.J.

Delphi "Driving Tomorrow's Technology" Award
-- Team #449, the Blair Robot Project - Wrenchman
Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, Md.

Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship Award
-- Team #75, RoboRaiders
Hillsborough High School, Hillsborough, N.J.

Judges Award for Innovative Financial Management
-- Team #102, the Gearheads
Somervile High School, Somerville, N.J.

Woodie Flowers Award finalist (honoring an adult mentor)
-- Team #11, Bill McGowan
Mt. Olive High School, Flanders, N.J.

Note: McGowan is among the mentor finalists chosen at all regional
competitions who will be eligible to receive the Championship Woodie Flowers
Award in Atlanta in April.
SOURCE New Jersey FIRST

Kathryn Kempf, kathrynk@bycommunciations.com, or Marybeth Nibley,
marybethn@bycommunications.com, both of B&Y Communications, +1-973-746-8183