Lynbrook High School was home to School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI)’s official FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology) Tech Challenge Qualifying Tournament, which took place on Sunday, January 8. During this, the first of three, qualifying event, 27 Long Island FIRST Tech Challenge teams, comprised of students age 12 to 18, used their problem-solving skills, creative thinking and sportsmanship to compete in this year's challenge, VELOCITY VORTEX^SM.

Working along with their mentors, these students built and programmed robots for VELOCITY VORTEX, during which alliances of three teams attempt to score as many points as possible by scoring particles into their own center vortex or corner vortex and claiming beacons for their alliance by triggering them to illuminate their alliance color. At the end of the game, the color of the beacon determines the alliance credited for the successful claiming of the beacon.

After the conclusion of the event, teams were presented with a variety of awards, as follows:

The following teams have advanced to the Long Island FIRST Tech Challenge Championships, which will take place on February 11 at Smithtown West High School:

Local sponsors included School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. and Lynbrook Public Schools; national sponsors included Qualcomm, Rockwell Collins and PTC.