On March 24 and 25, over 10,000 spectators gathered at Hofstra Arena, Hofstra University in Hempstead to watch 39 teams of high school students compete at the Long Island Regional competition to earn a spot at the FIRST USA Championship to be held April 27-29 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta GA. Several teams received honors and recognition that rewarded design excellence, competitive play, sportsmanship and high-impact partnerships between schools, businesses and communities.

“The winners demonstrated tremendous teamwork, professionalism and strategic thinking to overcome the challenges of the competition,” said Fred Breithut, President of the School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, sponsors of the Long Island Regional FIRST Competition. “The fun and excitement of the competition was evident as many students, professional mentors, school groups and community members caught the spirit and came to cheer on their favorite teams as engineering and technology at work surpassed the excitement of a championship athletic event.”

With the hope of winning one of several coveted awards, high school students worked with professional mentors to design and build a robot that solves a problem using a kit of parts and a standard set of rules. The students gathered to compete with their robots in this year’s game, “AIM HIGH” which is played with two alliances, one red and one blue, composed of three teams each, competing in each match. The object of the game is to attain a higher score than your opponent alliance by scoring balls in a center or corner goals, and/or by having robots on a platform at the end of the match.
Winners of the Long Island Regional awards include:

Award
School

Regional Chairman's Award (highest award of the competition)
Miller Place High School**

Regional Woodie Flowers Award
Pat Hughes from Miller Place High School

Engineering Inspiration Award (second highest award of the competition)
Aviation High School In Long Island City**

Regional Winners Alliance
Hauppauge High School**
Southold High School**
Bayshore High School**

Regional Finalist Alliance
Patchogue-Medford High School
Plainview-Old Bethpage High School
Hicksville High School

Highest Rookie Seed
Port Washington High School

Rookie All Star Award (highest rookie award)
Port Washington High School**

Rookie Inspiration Award
Freeport High School

Daimler Chrysler Team Spirit Award
William Floyd High School

Delphi "Driving Tomorrow's Technology" Award
Hauppauge High School

General Motors Industrial Design Award
Baldwin High School

Johnson & Johnson Sportsmanship Award
Miller Place High School

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
Entrepreneurship
Plainview Old Bethpage High School

Motorola Quality Award
Mt. Sinai High School

Xerox Creativity Award
Patchogue-Medford High School

Imagery Award
Southold High School

Radio Shack Innovation in Control Award
CT public & Technical School & Home Schooled Students

Web Site Design Award
Newton High School, Elmhurst NY

Autodesk Visualization Award-Regional
Longwood High School

Judge's Award(impact to their school's appreciation of, and knowledge in science and technology)
Newton High School, Elmhurst NY
Westhampton Beach High School

Fred Breithut Award
Isaiah Watson From Roosevelt High School

UL Industrial Safety Award
West Islip High School

Safety Recognition
Hicksville High School
Comsewogue High School
Port Washington High School

*The Chairman's Award is the most prestigious award of the event and recognizes the team that embodies the goals and purpose of FIRST and best represents a model for other teams to emulate.
**Denotes teams that qualify to participate in the National Championship to be held in Atlanta, GA.
***Descriptions of the criteria of each award are available upon request
****Photos from the event are available upon request.