San Diego Students Unexpectedly Take First Place Win at NASA-Sponsored FRC Regional Competition, Qualifying for World Championship

(San Diego, CA, April 16, 2018) -The Rancho Bernardo High School (RBHS) robotics team, known as Σ-Motion (2658), achieved a tremendous and unexpected upset, winning first place at the NASA Aerospace Valley regional competition on April 7, 2018. Prior to this championship, the team placed fifth in the San Diego Regional semifinals and struggled I prior years. This made the unexpected victory at the Aerospace Valley Regional a monumental accomplishment.

The win at regionals qualified the RBHS team for the FRC Robotics World Championships on April 18, 2018, in Houston, Texas.

The RBHS Robotics Team was founded in 2007 as Team Pedestrian (Team #2658 https://www.team2658.org/) and experienced an ever-changing set of staff advisors and volunteer mentors from 2012 to 2016. Without dependable professional guidance, the student team struggled to maintain organization and focus, while also working through budget deficits (over $3,000 in 2015). In 2016, the students took control, rebranded as Σ-Motion and established a new methodology and set of principles focused on achieving success through meaningful leadership techniques and an emphasis on community.

"Our hard work and dedication pulled us through," said Maryam Dehaini, RB High Junior on the team. "This victory means everything. We have put our blood, sweat, and tears into our robot and have accomplished what we thought impossible for our underfunded team: making it into the FRC World Championship."

Fundraising to get to regionals took effort from each of the 48 students on the team. They now need to raise an additional $25,000 to get to Houston for the World Championship.

A GoFundMe page (https://www.gofundme.com/team2658) has been set up and the students are counting on help from the community to raise the funds needed to ship their robot and all parts, travel to Texas and see how far the can go representing Rancho Bernardo, San Diego and the value of STEM education!