“Pilots in position, drivers behind the line; match starts in 3, 2, 1 -” Excitement filled the gym of South Central High School in Winterville, NC, as the first match of the Pitt County event of 2017 FRC STEAMWORKS started on March 3rd, 2017. We were confident that our robot, the Clockwork, would readily move in the field. Our team, allying with Team 5511 the Cortechs and Team 3459 the Pyrotech, was ready to take off our airship for the very first match of this event. And our effort was reflected in the field as we were totally ready to lift off. Busily moving from the pit to the gym, our team members made the robot in position. In between the matches, we were at the Chairman’s Award interview, Dean’s List interviews, and Safety award interviews. We were also at different teams’ pits helping them out while they are fixing their robot for the matches. Communicating with other teams as we were visiting them and collecting their buttons was one of the best moments we experienced. Talking about the robot, matches and the buttons allowed us to get to know other teams better than ever.

Our communication skills shined during the alliance selection. Although we were not the alliance captain, we were graciously selected by Team 5160 the Chargers and Team 5511 the Cortechs. With this strong alliance, we were able to pierce through the playoff matches and go to the final round of the playoff. Although our team just stopped as a finalist for this event, this event marked the start of our upward trend of this season! We started our upward trend not only of the matches buy also of the awards. From this event, we were honored with Quality Award sponsored by Motorola Solutions Foundations. This award is given to the team who built the robot in quality and whose entire team demonstrated robustness and quality! With this great start of the competition season, we headed to our next district event, to Raleigh!