Center Moriches High School began the season with a strong presence at this year’s kickoff for the 2013 FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition, sponsored by School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) and Stony Brook University. They gathered with more than 40 participating Long Island high schools on Saturday, January 5 at Stony Brook University’s Jacob Javits Center for a presentation and simulcast broadcast from New Hampshire. After the presentation, each team received a kit of parts to help them build a 120-pound robot. The teams will have six weeks to construct the robot and prepare for the upcoming competition to be held on April 4-6 at Hofstra University.

Center Moriches is a rookie team, so this will be their first Long Island Regional FIRST Robotics Competition. Members of the Center Moriches robotics team are pictured displaying the contents of the kit of parts with their mentor.

For more information about SBPLI and the annual FIRST Robotics Competition, visithttp://www.sbpli.org.