REaCH/Rutherford County Schools robotics team is in Houston; Facebook/Meta funds the trip

The REaCH/Rutherford County Schools Omegabytes robotics team has put the youth of Rutherford County on the world stage. The Robotics team is in Houston, Texas this weekend for the competition. The team, along with adult coaches and leaders, are in Houston through April 23 for the competition. The team is incredibly thankful for the generosity of the Facebook/Meta company, which is funding the trip through a donation to the Rutherford County Schools Educational Foundation. The FIRST Robotics Championship began on April 20.

Team members are Gracie Allred, Brady Anders, Fletcher Baccus, Morgan Beheler, Ryan Bennett, Reid Condrey, Jonas Conner, Silas Dickerson, Amaka Enerorji, Samantha Friot, Logan Greene, Alissa Griffin, Mackenzie Hernandez, Casey Lyda, Jack Mcbrayer, Jimmy McCosker, Kayla McDowell, Tony McKinney, Andrea Mendoza-Paredes, Matthew O'Steen, Selena Prescott, Landen Proctor, Benjamin Roach, Diego Romero-Rojas, Abigail Roof, Zachary Saraga, Brayden Schalk, Tristan Simon, Kasey Smith, Emily Walters and Carleigh Williams. Diego Romero-Rojas and Kasey Smith are co-captains.

The Omegabytes team competes in the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), the high school level program of the broader FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a nonprofit organization that prepares youth for the future through an international program of robotics competitions for various age levels.

In state championship field competition, the team and its professional-grade robot finished qualification rounds ranked sixth out of the 33 competing teams. Although the Omegabytes did not advance to the final round of the state championship, the team's cumulative field competition points plus Chairman's and other awards points from their two regional competitions and the state championship placed them solidly in the top 10 of the 66 teams in FIRST North Carolina. The state Chairman's Award gave the Omegabytes a direct ticket to the FIRST Robotics Championship. The Omegabytes are representing Rutherford County in what FIRST calls "coopertition" with well over 200 other teams from across the nation and around the world.

Each spring, FRC teams advance through a series of regional levels to potentially reach the annual global-level competition. In spite of their rural roots and their home county's designation as one of the most economically distressed of North Carolina's 100 counties (2021 North Carolina Development Tier Designations, an annual report by the North Carolina Dept. of Commerce), the Omegabytes have built a robust program that is transforming their community and are successfully competing against teams from large metropolitan areas.

The team motor is: "We're not just building robots...we're building lives."

Rutherford County robotics team competing in Houston, Texas this weekend.