On Saturday March 26, and Sunday March 27, the Windham Windup robotics team of Windham High School and 4H competed in their third event of the year in Shrewsbury, MA. Windham went on to earn second place for their performance and hard work over the course of the weekend as well as earning the Entrepreneurship Award, given to teams who have robust business plans and excellent team organization skills. At the end of qualifiers, Windham won 10 out of the 12 qualifying matches, with one tie, making their qualification record 10-1-1. Windham entered alliance selections as the captain of the second seed alliance, picking Teams 1153 from Walpole, MA  and 3205 from Concord, MA.

After a very successful bout of qualification matches, Windham led their second seeded alliance into the elimination portion of the event, easily getting through the quarterfinals and semifinals. In the finals, Windham was matched up against the first seeded alliance, captained by Team 230 from Shelton, CT who partnered with Teams 2168 from Groton, CT and 5112 from Glocester, RI. Windham and their partners lost their first best 2 out of 3 finals match 116-99. During this match, Windham’s intake mechanism was destroyed beyond repair, forcing a timeout to be taken between the first and second matches. During this five minute timeout, Windham was able to completely replace their entire ball intake.  In the second match, Windham changed strategies and played defense against Team 230 while Windham’s partner, Team 3205, defended against Team 2168. While not official, Windham’s alliance won this match 74-71. Unfortunately, due to an issue on the playing field, the match needed to be replayed, therefore voiding Windham’s victory. The last match (it would have been the tiebreaker had the previous match been counted) of the event was lost in a well fought 98-66 match. Windham congratulates the first seeded alliance on their well deserved victory.

This being Windham’s third event brings in yet another award, this one for Entrepreneurship, and a third finals run. Windham is three for three in second place finishes and in awards for this competition season. Due to the team’s success this year, Windham is not only seated 8th out of the 185 teams in New England, but has also prequalified for the World Championship competition, to be held in Houston, TX from April 20-23. As one can imagine, it takes a great deal of expense to compete at such a high level, and keep team membership accessible to everyone no matter their financial status. In order to compete at Worlds, Windham must raise funds to lower the student cost of this trip. That is where you come in. The Windham Windup robotics team is asking for our community’s generous support of this amazing opportunity for students to take part. Checks can be made out to Windup Robotics and can be mailed to PO Box 4224, Windham, NH 03087. Any amount helps, and the team would be grateful for any assistance from the public. Windham Windup is a 501(c) non-profit organization, making all contributions tax deductible. Please contact Sharad Vidyarthy at svidyarthy@team3467.org for more information and keep an eye out for our Krispy Kreme fundraiser coming soon targeted for Saturday April 16.   A go-fund-me campaign will also be set up with more details to come.