On March 14 and 15 Chop Shop 166 competed at the Granite State District Event held at Bedford High School. During the event Chop Shop took home the Engineering Inspiration Award and placed 3rd overall in the competition after a very rocky weekend.
“I couldn’t be prouder of how Chop Shop showed up and competed at the Bedford Event this weekend. Watching the students deal with the ups and downs of the days to secure a 3rd place finish was incredible” said Chop Shop mentor Ian MacGregor.
During the playoffs, Chop Shop was the Captain of Alliance #3 where we invited Team 131, CHOAS from Manchester NH and Team 348, Norwell Robotics from Norwell MA to join our alliance.
Along with coming in 3rd Chop Shop won the Engineering Inspiration Award which is what FIRST describes as, “A team who demonstrates outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a team’s school or organization and community.”
“Being recognized with the Engineering Inspiration Award was the cherry on top of this weekend! It just goes to show how hard everybody on this team works to make an impact.” said Katie, Chop Shop’s Outreach Lead. “Although only a handful of team members were able to speak to the judges, we wouldn't have had anything to talk about if it weren't for the hours that everyone pitched in to make our events and our initiatives happen. Not only that, but it serves as a reminder that even if you are from a small town, or you are a small team, you can still make a big difference.”
We won Engineering Inspiration for our STEAM Outreach in Merrimack and Milford. One of these is the LEGO Summer Camp that we host for ages 8-12 to teach them how to build and code LEGO Spike Prime robots. Another one of these events is our recurring Bridge to STEAM series for students aged 6-10, which encompasses a fun topic to educate them on using the scientific method.