The robotics team competed at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, ND, from March 12-14. They participated in the Great Northern Regional competition, showcasing their hard work and teamwork. Their efforts paid off when they won the Team Sustainability Award.
This was the first competition of 2025 for the Stillwater FRC robotics team. FRC stands for FIRST Robotics Competition which FIRST is an organization that is a global non-profit that inspires young people to pursue stem fields. FRC is one of FIRST’s programs that is designed for high schoolers. It is a year-round project that involves building robots, competing in challenges, training new team members, improving processes and fundraising.
The team competed in the Great Northern Regional Competition which was made up of “54 teams total, mostly from Minnesota and North and South Dakota,” physics teacher and robotics team leader Chris Mentz said, who attended the competition on March 12-14.
Robotics competitions are different from normal team competitions. These events are more collaborative than competitive. “It’s this portmanteau,” Mentz said. “It’s a coopertition.”
When they compete, they form alliances with other teams. Instead of simply trying to defeat their opponents, teams often help each other improve their designs and strategies. This approach encourages teamwork, innovation and learning from each other.
“For example in one competition another team broke a part and needed to have it 3D printed and they didn’t have one but we did so they sent us a file and we printed it for them even though we could be put against them,” Mentz said.
The robotics team is made up of a lot of different jobs. There are scouters who go to other teams and see what ideas they might be up against. There are people who build and design the robot, as well as members who code it to function properly. The business team handles fundraising to support the team. Some members focus on strategy, analyzing data to plan the best moves during competitions, others work on marketing and social media to promote the team and engage with the community.
“I work a lot with the drive base and I really enjoyed working and disassembling and reassembling,” junior Zach Mogren said who works on the robot when not competing and then becomes a scouter during the competition time.
The robotics team is very “flexible,” Mogren said. The team meets every day after school and on some weekend days. Mentz said the business team gathers donations for the team so it is essentially free for any student to join other than hotel rooms or food when they go to events.
“If you have to take the day off for school work you can. you don’t have to attend every single day,” Mogren said.
The robotics team is a place to learn new things and help others. “You know for me my favorite part of the team is the students. They’re just a lot of fun. just watching them as they try to solve complex problems and figure out what we’re doing,” Mentz said.
