PEPPER PIKE, Ohio – The Orange High School robotics team has qualified for the FIRST Robotics World Championship by winning the Finger Lakes Regional competition March 10-12 in Rochester, N.Y.
It marks the third competition year in a row that the Orange team, called the Flying Circuits, has qualified for the world championship. This year’s event will be April 20-23 in Houston.
At the regional, the Flying Circuits placed first among 37 teams. The 24-member team was the No. 1-ranked alliance after the qualifying rounds.
The Flying Circuits also received the Creativity Award, sponsored by Rockwell Automation, which co-adviser Ryan McMonigle said is also a sponsor of the OHS team.
“We had a lot of new kids who were very excited to learn new things,” McMonigle said in a telephone interview from Pittsburgh, where the Flying Circuits are vying for another title in the Greater Pittsburgh Regional March 17-19. “Most of the students had never experienced a full season of FIRST Robotics.
“It’s a very good team in terms of chemistry and willingness to get the job done. The kids brought a very positive and willing attitude to every challenge.”
In 2020, the Orange High School team qualified for the world championship competition to be held in Detroit. But that event was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, as was the entire 2020-21 season.
“Students who were freshmen in 2020 – when we had the last full season – are juniors now, and now they’re the team leaders,” McMonigle said.
“So it’s really a huge undertaking. But I think everybody is just excited to have a little more normal year.”
When the Flying Circuits captured first place in the Mahoning Valley Robotics Challenge last October in Warren, it marked the final competition for their robot named Hammer Head, which was built in early 2020.
The team started building a new robot in January and named it Floppy Disk, because it’s shaped like a floppy disk, McMonigle said.
Orange High School robotics team members, from left, juniors Halina Michener and Nikki Kolure and senior Anna Leitson display the blue banner the team received for winning the Finger Lakes Regional competition. Michener is the team president, and Kolure serves as vice president. At right is the team’s robot, named Floppy Disk. (Photo Courtesy of Orange City Schools)
McMonigle said the Flying Circuits are led by their four officers, all juniors. They are President Halina Michener, Vice President Nikki Kolure, Secretary Sarah Friedlander and Treasurer Nathan Rice.
Rice and sophomore Charlie Rubsamen were the drivers of the robot at the Finger Lakes Regional. Rubsamen is new to the district, as he moved from California this past summer.
“They actually split the driving duties throughout the competition and performed equally well,” McMonigle said. “They created a good tandem and just worked really well together.”
Other team members who took part in the regional championship are seniors Anna Leitson, Daniel Suh, Lawson Blasier, Niranjan Girish and Truman Williams; juniors Ben White, Griffin Ginosar, Remy Perry and Sean Lipton; sophomores Charles Loebl, Gemma Klisovic, Giada Klisovic, Jack Arch and Logan Kaplan; and freshmen Ben Wei, Brianne Lipton, Elise Kemp, Meredith Ford and Tyler Heasley.
McMonigle, in his 11th year as the team’s adviser, said this is one of the largest teams he’s ever had with more than 30 students overall. It’s also a young team, as 11 of the 24 students who traveled to the regional are freshmen or sophomores.
In addition to robotics, McMonigle teaches computer science and engineering design at Orange High School.
Jon Rice, the team’s other co-adviser, teaches AP chemistry at the high school.
McMonigle said his main goal for the Flying Circuits for the world championship is to “just enjoy the experience, win or lose.”
“Make connections, learn about some opportunities in the fields of engineering and computer science and just have fun,” he said.
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