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Updates from Upperclassmen by Easton and Kenny Hillman

Being a part of robotics has to be one of the best choices we have ever made as students attending Albert Lea High School. We were never those kind of kids who were very athletic, so realizing there was still a club that appeals to people who were more brain over brawn helped us feel more included with a lot of other kids that we wouldn’t have had the pleasure of meeting otherwise. Last week, our robotics team went to Dallas for the world championships for the second year in a row since we started last year, and it has been a crazy experience. We met teams from all over the world there, including Japan, Canada, Turkey and even Uganda! Seeing everyone being represented in a robotics competition was nothing short of fascinating, as we never got to see so many teams from all over the world in one place before.

The Broken Zip Ties, the name for Albert Lea’s robotics team, managed to reach up to the quarterfinals in the Art’s Division (consisting of 81 teams) before being eliminated with a difference of two points. Our performance was better than when we went to the world championships in Texas last year, where we never made it past the qualification rounds. Our team believes that we have improved so much compared to last season, and even with some of our members leaving to go to college next year, the future shines bright for the Broken Zip Ties and Albert Lea robotics as a whole.

Easton and Kenny Hillman are seniors at Albert Lea High School.