Eugene high school robotics team ranks 1st in Pacific Northwest, heads to World Championship

A local high school robotics team is on track for its best performance ever as it prepares for the world championships.

The South Eugene Robotics Team — which includes students from South Eugene High but also from other area schools — is the only FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition team in the Eugene/Springfield area. SERT ranked first in the entire Pacific Northwest following the Pacific Northwest District competition in early April, easily qualifying for the FIRST World Robotics Championship in Houston, which starts on Wednesday.

“The district competition was fast and exciting,” said SERT co-captain Cinco Murchison, a senior at South Eugene High School. "We're proud to represent the whole Eugene/Springfield area on the world stage."

Now, the team is trying to raise money to get all its students to the final competition of the season in Texas.

According to Mike Chamberlain, SERT mentor, SERT is hoping to bring nearly 30 students of its 45 club members to the World competition.

While it is named after the school its workshop is housed in, SERT is open to students from any high school in the area. It is not affiliated with South Eugene High, nor does it receive funding from the school district. The majority of the 45 students go to South Eugene High, but several current members are from North Eugene High, Sheldon High and Pleasant Hill High.

At the championship, SERT will be competing with and against 600 top-ranked robotics teams from around the globe in a four-day tournament. Only 22 of the 127 teams in the Pacific Northwest qualified for the competition.

"This is the most successful season to date the team has ever had," Chamberlain said. "These kids are amazing ... This is their project and they have worked very, very hard."

This is SERT's fourth time ever going to worlds after qualifying in 2015, 2018 and 2023, according to Chamberlain.

"Every team comes ready to leave it all on the field, SERT included," said longtime mentor Paul Dassonville in a news release. "That means students spend a lot of time between matches fixing things that get smashed up, but watching the students work together and problem-solve in real time is part of the fun. It's certainly gratifying to see as a mentor."

The team's 150-lb. robot, Marvin, is already in Houston, having been shipped in a 400-lb. crate via two-day air shipping, paid for by FedEx, which is a sponsor of FIRST, according to Chamberlain. The rest of the team's equipment is currently on its way to the venue in a semi-truck, which is shared with other teams from the Pacific Northwest.

Competition and opportunity

Beyond the championship itself, Chamberlain said the event offers a much larger opportunity for young students interested in robotics, engineering and STEM.

"It's a pretty remarkable week for students," Chamberlain said. "There's a bunch of seminaries and colleges, employers."

Chamberlain said the competition takes place in a huge venue, the George R. Brown Convention Center is located in downtown Houston and covers 1.8 million square feet. This week, it will be filled with international youth with similar interests.

"(It's) absolutely saturated with experiences," Chamberlain said.

Before SERT leaves Houston, they will also be visiting the NASA Johnson Space Center and arriving back to Eugene early Monday.

Fundraising effort

Chamberlain said that the total cost of getting 30 students and six mentors to the world championship is about $50,000, combining flights, hotels, vans, meals, equipment shipping costs and registration for the competition.

The team has set up a GoFundMe and is asking for donations to help fund the trip. Chamberlain said the group prioritizes funding travel costs for students whose families don't have the excess funds to send them on their own.

"It's really important to us that they (families) don't say 'no' because of the financial impact," Chamberlain said. "(The championships) is not something that comes up for us every year. If it's important to them ... we want to find a way to make it happen."

The team had raised about $14,000 as of Thursday.

To find ways to donate including the team's GoFundMe, visit www.sert2521.org.

Miranda Cyr reports on education for The Register-Guard. You can contact her at mcyr@registerguard.com or find her on Twitter @mirandabcyr.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Eugene high schoolers to compete for world robotics title