4-H Robotics / FRC Team 3737

Through teamwork, hard work and dedication from our 25 students, FIRST Robotics Competition Team 3737, a 4-H Robotics team located in Goldsboro, N.C., is headed to our first FIRST Robotics Competition World Championship Event in Houston, Tx from April 19-22, 2017.

We will be competing with 400 teams from around the world with our robot, Wally, named after the 4-H agent who helped start our team and retired from the NC Extension Service in December 2016.

We are currently trying to raise the money necessary to pay for our charter bus, lodging and food to attend this event as our team has limited funds.

We are located in a primarily rural agricultural area and offer one of the only year round robotics programs available in our community for high school students.

Begun in 2011, with 5 home-school students, our diverse team now consists of home-schoolers and students from 12 different schools.

Our team has had our best season while competing in 2017 FIRST Steamworks. Our accomplishments this season include:

Pitt County NC District Event:
- Ranked 1st, Captain of the 1st Alliance
- District Event Winner
- Industrial Design Award, sponsored by General Motors (Robot award), which celebrates form and function in an efficiently designed machine, that effectively addresses the game challenge

Raleigh NC District Event:
- Member of the 3rd Alliance and played in the Quarterfinals
- Entrepreneurship Award, sponsored by Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, which celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit by recognizing a team that has developed the framework for a comprehensive business plan to scope, manage, and achieve team objectives

NC State Championship Event:
- Captain of the 8th Alliance
- Selected to be on the 5th Alliance and played in the Quarterfinals
- Innovation in Control Award, sponsored by Rockwell Automation, which celebrates an innovative control system or application of control components for electrical, mechanical, or software, to provide unique machine functions. We were recognized for our retro-reflective photo sensors mounted on servos which help us efficiently place gears on a peg

NC District Ranking: 9th out of 59 teams, Qualified for the FIRST World Championship

We are active in our community, having started 49 FIRST Lego League Jr. teams this year in local elementary schools and coached and mentored three FIRST Lego League teams. We have taught the Robotics Merit Badge to 80 Boy Scouts enabling them to earn this Merit Badge. During the summer, we have run numerous 4-H Summer camps in robotics, design and LEGOS.

Attending the FIRST World Championship will enable our students to see the many diverse robots created by other teams, to achieve the objectives of this season's game challenge. This experience will also broaden their understanding of robot design and creativity as well as problem solving.

Please help us make a difference in the lives of our students by donating funds to our team for our travel and food expenses, which will enable them to participate in this event. As we are an N.C. 4-H team, we are considered a 501(c)3 non-profit organization through the N.C. State University.