Ten Long Island Teams Head to St. Louis for FIRST 2012 Championship and World Festival Expo

April 26, 2012 - PRLog -- Kings Park, New York — School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) announced that ten FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition (FRC) teams from Long Island will represent their region at the FIRST 2012 Championship and World Festival Expo that will take place April 26-28 at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Missouri.

The FRC teams representing Long Island include Longwood High School Team #564 “Digital Impact”; Great Neck South High School Team #2638 “Rebels”; Plainedge High School Team #527 “Red Dragons”; Southold Junior Senior High School Team #870 “Team R.I.C.E.”; Patchogue-Medford High School Team #329 “Raiders”; Hauppauge High School #358 “Robotic Eagles”; Sachem High School Team #263 “Aftershock”; Bay Shore High School Team #271 “Mechanical Marauders,” Lindenhurst High School Team #533 "PSIcotics" and North Shore High School Rookie Team #3950 “Robo Gym.”

Longwood High School was this year’s Chairman’s Award winner. The Chairman’s Award is the most prestigious award of the event and recognizes the team that embodies the goals and purpose of FIRST and best represents a model for other teams to emulate.

Great Neck South High School was the winner of the Regional Engineering Inspiration Award at the Long Island FIRST Robotics Competition, which was held March 30 and 31 at Hofstra University. North Shore High School won the Rookie All Star Award. Hauppauge High School was the recipient of the Gracious Professionalism Award.

Plainedge High School and Southold High School were two of the Long Island FRC’s Regional Winners. Winners of the Chairman’s Award are invited to compete in the FIRST Championships in St. Louis, as well as the regional winners and the winners of the Regional Engineering Inspiration Award and the Rookie All Star Award.

Teams will compete in the robotics game “Rebound RumbleSM,” which is played between two Alliances of three teams each. Each Alliance competes by trying to score as many of the basketballs in the hoops as possible during the two-minute and 15-second match. Balls scored in higher hoops score teams more points. Team Alliances are awarded bonus points if they are balanced on bridges at the end of the match.

“We are proud to have these teams that competed in our SBPLI Long Island robotics competition represent our region in the Championship,” said Ginny Greco, FRC Director of SBPLI. “We know that they will bring with them their friendly competitive spirit, their teamwork and problem solving skills and their gracious professionalism.”

For more information, visit http://www.sbpli-lifirst.org.

The Long Island FIRST Regional Competition is run by the School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI). SBPLI was founded in 1984 by Fred Breithut with the goal of developing partnerships between local high schools and businesses that would provide students with practical experience and curriculum development, while helping the business community develop its future workforce. Over 100 partnerships have been formed. In 1999, Long Island FIRST was formed for the purpose of developing a Long Island Regional FIRST Competition. In 2000, 14 high school teams participated.  The Long Island Regional has since grown with 50 teams participating in 2012. On January 8, 2012, registered teams were provided with supplies and the competition's game rules. The 2012 Competition was held at Hofstra University on March 30-31, 2012.

About  FIRST®

Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from three out of every five Fortune 500 companies and nearly $12 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC® ) and FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC® ) for high-school students, FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL® ) for 9 to 14-year-olds, (9 to 16-year-olds outside the U.S. and Canada) and Junior FIRST® LEGO® League (Jr.FLL) for 6 to 9-year-olds. Gracious Professionalism™ is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.usfirst.org. To find FIRST Robotics Competition events and teams in your area, visit www.usfirst.org, and click on the map in the top right corner or visit ConnectAMillionMinds.com and enter your zip code.

FIRST® and FRC® are registered trademarks, and Gracious Professionalism™ is a common law trademark, of the United States Foundation For Inspiration and Recognition  of Science and Technology (U.S. FIRST).