• Fort Couch Tech Students Win Second Place in PA and Move on to Super-Regional Robotics Competition

    The Steel Serpents Robotics Team competed in the Pennsylvania First Tech Challenge (FTC) State steelserpentteam Championship Tournament, winning a second place rating as Finalist Alliance Captains, and advancing to the FTC U.S. Super-Regional Competition.

    Graham Kretschmar, Brendan Neal, and Reese Benonis (left to right in picture) from Fort Couch Middle School, along with four students from Peters Township Middle School and a private school student, earned special recognition for their Steel Serpents Robot #8509 at the FTC State Championship on February 28 at Millersville University.

    The team will now advance to the FTC U.S. Super-Regional Competition with 71 other teams from 12 eastern states, from Virginia to Maine, on March 19-21 in Scranton, PA.

    steelserpent FTC takes a lot of work, teamwork and commitment. Not only does the Steel Serpents team design, engineer, program and build a robot to compete in an arena with and against other robots, but they also document and compile an engineering notebook. In addition, the students perform outreach by volunteering and mentoring a snapology class. Of special merit, Graham Kretschmar, Brendan Neal and Reese Benonis have designed a robot-building curriculum that Fort Couch Middle School teacher Mrs. Carolyn Cusick may use in her 21T classes.