by Divya Kumar
News Editor

After competing for the first time in the FIRST Robotics competition, the Coppell engineering team has learned valuable lessons to put in tact when preparing again next year. After recieving 40th out of 55 teams, the Coppell team has learned ways to improve for next year.

The competition officially began last Thursday, March 25. On the first day, the team had their first few practice matches and time to fix their robot, which they had built six weeks earlier, to navigate through a soccer field and shoot goals. Since the team was a novice one, more experienced teams offered to help them fix their robot. One team event went so far as to volunteer four of their own team members on that prep day to help the Coppell team.

“One of the aims is gracious professionalism,” engineering sponsor Grant Garner said. “It was so surprising how far these other people went just to help our team, even though we were competing with them.”

The Coppell team was one of the seven rookie teams at the event. Out of the seven matches played on Friday and the three played on Saturday, the Coppell team experienced five wins, four losses and one tie. Despite the fact that they did not advance, Grant said that not all was lost at the competition.

“If there’s anything we learned, it was what to do to prepare,” Grant said. “Since this was our first year, we were a little unsure, but next year we’ll be ready.”