The Next Step- our journey to State!

 After winning the regional tournament, the next step is the state competition. But to do that, we need to look at what we did well, did ok at, and what needs attention.  The judging score sheets from our 3 areas of judging- robot design, teamwork/core values and research- really helped understand what the judges saw adn where we can add attention to work harder. 
    In our robot game, we got 6th place overall and that's a matter of luck sometimes, but also of having a solid plan and better robot placement to start the missions off on.  Looking at the robot design judges' comments, we see we can improve ourselves by having fewer attachments and getting the attachments we do have to do more things.  That's the focus of the next meeting- attachment and solid runs!
    When we reviewed the research section, where the team did the best in scoring, we see that they can let the judges know they used 4 sources of information and that we need to try to share our research with more than 2 groups.   Mostly it was about sharing the information with the judges so they knew what the team had accomplished.  We think adding a paper that lists our sources of information and who we've shared the skit with would also be helpful to the judges and improve 2 of the 4 scores that weren't perfect.
   In teamwork, we talked about how well they did do, and that complimenting each other so the judges can HEAR them would be helpful.    That is a spontaneous task, and it can be hard to "train" for, but there are certainly things we can do to show that they work like a team and respect each other at all times like the teams exhibits during the meetings.
    So we have just 3 more weeks before competition, so the robot game is our focus.  Doing better at that should send us into the top tier again at state.  Wish us luck! (LOT and lots of luck.)