By Brandi Miller for the FCT

The Red Bay High School Robotics team recently competed in the BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) competition at Northwest-Shoals Community College. The competition was held Oct. 8, and the Tigers were able to finally show all of their hard work off during the competition.

“The students completely dedicate themselves to this competition,” said Greg Cash, one of the robotics team sponsors. “Leah Torisky and I try our best to help out here and there, but they do all the real work. Some school nights the students would even come to the robotics room after their extracurricular practices and work until 8 or 9 o’clock in order to perfect their robot.”

The objective of the BEST competition is to help educate and prepare students for a career in technology and robotics while still providing a fun, competitive environment for students in which to work and learn.

“We had a lot of fun at competition this year, and I am so proud of this team,” said senior robotics member Darby Madden. “I really enjoyed competing, and our team members have been rededicated to work even harder for next year.”

The robotics team has several senior members who all say that being on the robotics team has helped them prepare for college and careers in the future.

“Through BEST, I’ve realized my abilities to handle teamwork, stress and late nights,” said senior member Taylor Cash. “But even will all the busyness, it was all worth it for the artistic experience and fun we had working together.”

The RBHS robotics team competed in several different aspects of robotics and also competed in the driving competition. The areas included programming, CAD drawing, marketing presentation, team-wear, robot design, spirit and sportsmanship, best mascot, trade show booth and creative video.

“I am so impressed with all that the students have accomplished this year,” said sponsor Torisky. “They’ve put in so many extra hours for this competition, and I couldn’t be more proud of all that they’ve done. The goal of this competition is to develop their knowledge of robots and how to work together as team in order to accomplish a goal, and I would say that they’ve done just that. We placed in many areas, and the students are eager to compete again next year.”

The robotics team brought home 1st place awards for most photogenic robot and creative video; 2nd place award for innovative design; and 3rd place awards for best mascot (Mattee Berry) and teamwear.

The robotics team would like to extend a special thanks to all of their sponsors and every parent, friend or family member that helped the team along the way.

Members of the RBHS robotics team are Jace Pounds, Darby Madden, Tate Ozbirn, Kelly Miller, Gath Weatherford, Brooke Shotts, Chandler Allen, Ethan Pierce, Levi Raper, Kurtlan Hiser, Reagan Kuykendall, Haley George, Lexie Carnes, Carlee Humphres, Autumn Higginbottom, Keslie Robbins, Taylor Cash, Ethan Mobley, Sydney Hardin, Taylor Brown, Ethan Ray, Mattee Berry, Morgan Pierce, Anna Jackson, Aeron Moor and Chase Allen.