SLA’s FIRST Robotics team, 4454 the Artisan Rockets, took first place at the Hatboro Horsham District Competition, and is currently ranked first in the MidAtlantic region. After working to build a robot for the last six weeks, the team approached their first competition with a level of perseverance and engineering ingenuity that not only allowed them to rise to the top, but also impressed the judges who awarded the team the Gracious Professionalism award.

The team’s robust design and artful driving allowed the team to effectively play offensive defense and then dart back to successfully rise to the challenge of climbing the highest step to secure ranking points. The team competes in another district level qualifier this weekend (March 9 & 10) at West Town High School, and then will compete at Lehigh University (April 4-6) in the FIRST Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship.