MANSFIELD -- For the second time in three years, FIRST Robotics Competition Team 5413, Stellar Robotics, has brought home the state championship.

This year, that championship covered three states: Ohio, West Virginia, and western/central Pennsylvania.

Stellar ranked first in qualifying rounds and thus earned the right to first pick in order to build a winning alliance for the playoff rounds. They selected FRC Team 48, Delphi Elite, out of Warren, Ohio, and FRC Team 1317, Digital Fusion, out of Columbus.

"We had an all-Ohio alliance, which was kind of fun," said Team Mentor Chantal DeYoe. "But the best part was that all three robots were essential to the alliance and our win. We worked really well together."

FIRST promotes such skills as teamwork by designing games which require these alliances to work together to complete the tasks of the game. Student team members must communicate, cooperate, and negotiate with their alliance partners to implement match-winning strategies.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a worldwide program which has been offering hands-on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) opportunities to students for more than 25 years. Students can develop such skills as public speaking, writing, and business administration. They can work on website development, computer animation, videography, and statistics.

Stellar Robotics is a community-based, nonprofit organization within FIRST, offering these hands-on learning opportunities to students in Richland County from kindergarten through twelfth grade. The best part of team membership is that no experience is required. Quite the opposite--team membership is an opportunity to learn skills that students may not have a chance to learn elsewhere.

Through the generous support of North Central State College, Stellar Robotics operates out of the Kehoe Center in Shelby. They receive financial support for their program from a variety of community sponsors, including ArcelorMittal, The Regional Manufacturing Coalition, SJE-Rhombus, Phillips Mfg and Tower Co, TASCO, and others. The program has grown exponentially over its three years of existence and welcomes additional team members, mentors, and sponsors.

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Stellar Robotics team wins multi-state championship - Richland Source