We are the Mach Busters FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Team 9097 from Sycamore High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. We won the Rookie All-Star award at the Miami Valley Regional competition, and now we're on our way to Worlds! We need to raise $15,000 to help with robotics parts, travel, lodging, pit construction, and more for our journey to Houston the week of April 17, 2023. There are 82,000 students on 3,200 FRC teams worldwide. At Worlds, we will compete in a pool of 600 championship FRC Teams from 137 Countries. This is truly an international event!

The Rookie All-Star award celebrates a rookie team that exemplifies a young but strong partnership effort and implements FIRST's mission to inspire students to learn more about science and technology.

The Mach Busters built a 4’6” 120lb robot which they programmed in Java. The games are played on a 27' x 50’ field with six robots competing against each other. The games are a combination of automated and manual play.

We are a part of FIRST, an international not-for-profit organization focused on community and preparing young people for the future through a variety of inclusive, team-based robotics programs for kids in PreK through grade 12. FIRST® inspires young people to be science and technology leaders and innovators by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering, and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership. In addition to teaching students about STEAM, FIRST has core values that students follow including exercising gracious professionalism and participating in community outreach.

We need funding to allow us to compete in the FIRST World Championships. Your support means a lot to us and helps us toward our mission to engage and learn about STEAM and prepare for our future. We have been told by mentors that our students are gaining knowledge that most people do not learn until they are out of college and working.

Team Members

Front from left: Hyojin No, Rachit Gupta, Azalea Shillington

Ryker Shillington and Kaya Kanisicak.

Back from left: Nathan Sharp, Mehmet Kara, Ansul Gunudavalli

and Griffin Ames holding our mascot Scarlett who comes to every meeting.

Not pictured, Jake Friedlander, Ella Chi, and Shailaja Nandikolmath

Mentors: Teresa Ames, David Sharp, Ryan Shillington, Chris Breneman

and Ravi Gupta

Any size of donation is greatly appreciated! Every donation will help us reach our goal. For many of our kids, this may be their only opportunity to attend an international event and compete at such a high level of STEAM while in High School. Please share our story with others who would be interested in our cause.

For more abort FIRST and FRC go to https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc

Thank you!

Go Sycamore Robotics!