Congratulations to the Hampton Bays Robotics Team #3474 who took home the Top Seeded Rookie award in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Long Island Regional Competition at Hofstra University on March 26, where they competed against 47 teams from across Long Island.

Six weeks prior to the competition, the students were faced with the challenge of designing and building an original 130-pound robot from a kit provided by FIRST. The kit was used to ensure that students were competing in accordance with standard game rules and that all schools competed at the same level. Earlier this year, the Robotics team received a $6,500 grant from NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Agency) to help fund the building of their robot.

The three-day event is a showcase of the abilities of our future engineers, programmers and electricians. Additionally, senior Pawel Golyski was awarded the Hampton Bays MVP award. Team advisors Matt Balistreri and Ed Baumann could not be more proud of HB’s first entry into this prestigious competition.