The Herndon Robotics FTC Team 519 bagged the highest award at the recent FIRST Robotics Northern Virginia Qualifier held at Battlefield High School in Haymarket, Va. The team earned the highest distinction of First Place FIRST Inspire Award which made them the first to move on the State Finals in Richmond. This award is given to the team with the best overall combined performance in the tournament, excellent engineering notebook, outstanding outreach program, best oral presentation, team spirit and gracious professionalism. They competed against 40 teams in the Northern Virginia area. This year the team elected to be the RoboPirates. Mentors, students, parents and other family members in attendance were all wearing their pirate accessories to show support and team spirit.
Their robot had technical difficulties prior to the first match, yet they became undefeated throughout the five qualifying matches, which made them one of the top team captains.