Greetings,
I am very proud to announce the release to over 15,000 teams, and reaching over a million students, mentors, volunteers, and sponsors world wide:
A chance of a lifetime. On June 9th & 10th, a professional production came to SLEHS along with a representative from FIRST headquarters to work with the high school robotics team, The Flying Toasters, 3641, to film the scenes for this video. To protect our students, professional actors with experience were used for the main characters, but the extras were supplied by our team.
You can find the video on FIRST’s Website: https://www.
Over the two days and nearly 24 hours of production, our students got the experience of a lifetime, as they not only worked as extras, but as supporting crew, operated the robot behind the camera, taught the actors about robotics, and provided technical advice. In turn the production crew embraced our team as they “showed them the ropes”, such as lighting, camera angles, staging, composition, etc. Everyone went away knowing more, a tribute to the willingness to exchange talent.
If you look closely, you can find many “Easter Eggs”. I counted 72. Can you find more?
Watching the final video, our team was so taken with how they captured our team’s approach on FIRST, students, mentors, as well as our team dynamics. Moreover, in my opinion. “There is Something for Everyone.” Robotics is just a vehicle, it’s building students what the Flying Toasters is all about.
This past weekend, The Flying Toasters made their way down to Indianapolis to compete in the Indiana Robotics Invitational. It was the team’s fourth time being invited to the event, with the last invite occurring in 2016. In total, 69 teams from across the United States, Canada, and Mexico all descended on Lawrence North High School to compete in what is often regarded as the hardest competition of the year. The Toasters put up a strong fight using both new and old drivers during the qualifying rounds. The endeavor was considered a great success, with a qualifying record of five wins and four losses. At the end of qualifying, 3641 had breached the upper half of teams, ranking 31st place. Unfortunately the Toaster’s run was ended earlier than expected, as the team was not selected for elimination play. None the less, there were many good experiences shared by all those who attended, especially those who had the opportunity to try the famous sweet corn. The Flying Toasters also made many new friends who helped our efforts and taught us some important lessons. There is no doubt that the Toasters are a much better team after attending.