Red Stick Rumble

On Saturday, August 26th, the St. Patrick Robotics Team (Team Tempest) competed in Red Stick Rumble, an off-season FIRST robotics competition held each year at Woodlawn High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Team Tempest competes in Red Stick Rumble every year and often advances to the final stages of the competition.

“Last year’s robot is used to help train the new drivers and to show new members how a competition is run,” said Tyler Fulmer, senior driver and co-president of the team, about the competition. “We were able to train multiple drivers for the next season.” The festival-style of the event and the lack of awards help to create a non-threatening environment for new members to try out the different positions on the team, such as driving and scouting. This prepares the team for next season, which begins during the first week of January.

Team Tempest did quite well throughout the qualifiers. “At one point, we made it up to 6th place out of 24 teams,” said Anna Broadus, senior driver and co-president of the team. Tempest ended qualifiers in 11th place. The team was drafted into an alliance with the 6th and 18th place teams. Team Tempest beat alliance #4 in the quarterfinals and went up against the #1 alliance in the semifinals. Although the team lost there, nothing could stop their great enthusiasm. “Making it all the way to the semifinals is impressive, especially since we had new drivers,” said Broadus.

Saturday was a successful day for Team Tempest. “We worked together and accomplished what we hoped for,” said Emily Miller, sophomore member. The future is bright for Tempest – the upcoming season will be an exciting one!

Story by Richard Springer