ASME Awards $35,000 in Scholarships at 2004 FIRST Finals (5/05/04)

This year, ASME awarded seven FIRST Clarke Scholarships at the 2004 FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition Championship, which was held in Atlanta from April 15-17.

(Above, from left) ASME Executive Director Virgil Carter, ASME President-elect Harry Armen, and ASME President Reginald Vachon were among the attendees at the 2004 FIRST Robotics Championships in Atlanta. This year's game (below) was called FIRST Frenzy — Raising the Bar.

Teams representing 48 U.S. states and Canada traveled to Atlanta to take part in the competition. This year's game was called FIRST Frenzy — Raising the Bar. The robots, which were designed and built by high-school students and their mentors, collected 13-inch balls and passed them to human players, who then shot them into fixed and moveable goals.

ASME President Reginald Vachon (left) presents Jeremy Egger of Palmer, Alaska with his FIRST Clarke Scholarship.

Seth Fontenot (above, center), of Central City, Iowa was another of the seven FIRST Clarke Scholarship winners at the FIRST competition in Atlanta.

Daniel Richardson (above, far right), of the Westminster Academy team from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., won a $5,000 FIRST Clarke Scholarship for his efforts.

Joseph Shekiro (above, center), from the Charter School team of Wilmington, Del., was another ASME scholarship winner.

Ryan Stewart (right), of Marietta, Ga., receives his scholarship from ASME President Reginald Vachon in Atlanta.

Extra points were given to teams when their robots placed 30-inch balls into special goals, or if their robots could be suspended from a 10-foot bar at the end of the match.

Each of the seven students who won the ASME-ASME Auxiliary FIRST Clarke Scholarships will receive $5,000 scholarships. The scholarships were open to high school seniors who were active on FIRST teams and were nominated by ASME members, ASME Auxiliary members, or student members also active in the FIRST program. The scholarships are applicable to the student's first year of study in an accredited mechanical engineering or mechanical engineering technology program.

The FIRST Clarke Scholarship winners for 2004, who were announced at the Atlanta championship tournament, were:

• David Bridge of South Windsor, Conn. (Team 177). Bridge is a senior at South Windsor High School and plans to attend Villanova University in the fall.

• Jordan Doll of Clarkston, Mich. (Team 33). Doll is a senior at Notre Dame Preparatory in Pontiac, Mich. Team 33, the Killer Bees, won Delphi Corp.'s "Driving Tomorrow's Technology Award" at the finals in Atlanta. Doll is also received a $20,000 FIRST scholarship from Kettering University, Flint, Mich., where he will begin this fall.

• Jeremy Egger of Palmer, Alaska (Team 959). Egger is a senior at Palmer High School and plans to attend Seattle University.

• Seth Fontenot of Central City, Iowa (Team 967). Fontenot is a senior at Linn Mar High School in Marion, Iowa, and plans to attend Iowa State University this fall.

• Daniel Richardson of Plantation, Fla. (Team 710). Richardson is a senior at Westminster Academy in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and plans to attend University of Central Florida in the fall.

• Joseph Shekiro of Wilmington, Del. (Team 365). Shekiro is a senior at Charter School of Wilmington. Shekiro is also the recipient of a full-tuition FIRST scholarship from Northeastern University, where he will start this fall.

• Ryan Stewart of Marietta, Ga. (Team 1002). Stewart is a senior at Wheeler High School in Marietta. He plans to attend Georgia Institute of Technology in the autumn.

Team 254, "the Cheesy Poofs," from Bellarmine College Preparatory School in San Jose, Calif., won the championship tournament's highest honor, the FIRST Chairman's Award. The award recognizes the team that best embodies the purpose and goals of the FIRST program.

The Winning Alliance of the overall competition was Team 494, "Robodogs," from Southeast Raleigh High School, Raleigh, N.C., and Team 71, "B.E.A.S.T.," from Clark, Gavit, Hammond and Morton High Schools in Hammond, Ind.

For more information on the ASME/FIRST Scholarships and how to become involved with the FIRST Robotics Competitions or the Junior Robotics Lego League, contact Dawna Schultz at schultzd@asme.org, or visit www.asme.org/education/precollege/first/first.htm.



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