An Oxford Area High School robotics team recently qualified for the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) East Super Regional Championship Tournament, held April 3 to 5 at the York Expo Center. 

Team 61 - OZONE qualified for the regional tournament following its performance at the Pennsylvania FTC Championship Tournament held March 1 at Millersville University. At that state championship event, the team took home the Finalist Alliance Award.

Team OZONE qualified for the state championship tournament based on its performance at the South Central Pennsylvania Regional Qualifying tournament held on Jan. 25 at Penn State’s York campus, where they earned the Winning Alliance Award and the PTC Design Award with a Superior Design designation for its robot’s computer program and design.  

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a world-wide program designed to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders. FIRST Tech Challenge is a robotics competition for high school students who want a hands-on learning experience to develop their skills in those areas as well as in engineering and math by working alongside industry professionals. 

With the support of mentors and volunteers, the students form teams to design and build a robot which they program to perform required tasks during competitions. The process enables students to develop self-confidence and learn to effectively communicate, collaborate and work as a team.