McKinley FIRST Robotics Team 368

FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international competition that combines the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology. Under the guidance of volunteer professionals, students are given the opportunity to design, build, and program robots to perform in a specially designed sporting competition. This is as close to "real-world engineering" as a student can get. With limited resources and firm deadlines, students have an opportunity to learn to problem solve as a team, to put together creative solutions, and to share their knowledge with the greater community.

From February through April, regional competitions are held throughout the country. At these regionals, the products of each team's hard work and dedication is on display as they compete for a coveted invitation to the FRC World Championship held in late April in St. Louis, Missouri.

We swept the competition, placing first at the Hawaii Regional, earning an invitation to the FRC World Championship. We also came in a close second at the Silicon Valley Regional, one of the most difficult regional competitions. Our success at both regional competitions demonstrated that even though we are a small team with meager resources from Hawaii, we can compete with the biggest and best teams from across the world. Competing at the FRC World Championship would be our opportunity to show everyone what can do.

But we need your help to get there! We need to raise enough money to cover the following expenses: $5,000 registration fee, shipping fees for robot transport, travel expenses for the team, and additional supplies to maintain the robot at competition. Every donation, whether big or small, will help to make our dream of competing at the FIRST World Championship a reality.

More about us:
We are Team Kika Mana (Tiger Power), proudly representing the tigers of McKinley High School in Honolulu, Hawaii. Founded in 2000, we are a veteran team comprised of about 12 students from grades 9-12 and about 8 magnificent mentors.

Our team strives to share what we've learned with the greater community by hosting numerous robotics competitions and providing robot demonstrations across the island. We have mentored other schools in developing their own robotics programs, including a nearby elementary school and teams that now compete against us. It is through this community outreach that we perpetuate the values of FIRST: Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition(TM), displaying unqualified kindness and respect in the face of fierce competition.

2014 Honors:
Hawaii Regional Winner (out of 39 teams)
Innovation in Control award, Hawaii Regional
The Innovation in Control award celebrates an innovative control system or application of control components"”electrical, mechanical, or software"”to provide unique machine functions.
Volunteer of the Year, Hawaii Regional
Silicon Valley Regional Finalist (out of 59 teams)
Innovation in Control award, Silicon Valley Regional