‘the LAw’ roboticS tea M Goes to FR c c ha M pionship

What Does That Mean?

The Lawson High School Robotics Team won the Heartland Regional Competition and has qualified to compete in the FRC Championship Competition. The team will be representing Lawson High School, the City of Lawson, and all the team’s sponsors at this event. The Lawson team was also a finalist in the play-offs at the Greater Kansas City Regional.

These were not only great accomplishments for the Lawson Robotics team, but for both alliances that the team had the pleasure of being a part of during both the Heartland Regional and the GKC Regional. The LHS team would like to thank and congratulate these teams for punching their tickets to the World Championship in Houston,Texas: Team 1987 Broncobots from Lee’s Summit North; Team 3184 Blaze Robotics from Burnsville, Minnesota; Team 5801 CTC Inspire from Independence, MO; and Team 1802 Team Stealth from Kansas City, Kansas. Without the opportunity to compete alongside these amazing teams, none of this would have been possible. Because of our team’s hard work and the teamwork exhibited with other members of their alliances, the LHS Robotics Team can experience all that the FRC Championship Competition has to offer.

The 2023 FIRST® Championship presented by BAE Systems will be held in Houston, Texas, Apr. 19-22. Hosted by FIRST®, FIRST Championship is a culminating, international event for our youth robotics competition season and an annual celebration of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for our community as we prepare young people for the future. Qualification and advancement to participate in FIRST Championship varies by program. Our team will compete against over 400 teams from the U.S. and around the world. The competition starts with eight divisions with the winners of each division advancing to the Final Championship Tournament play-off round. In addition to the competition itself, the opportunity to meet other top-performing students from around the world, talk to many colleges and universities who will be on-site for the event, as well as interacting with many of the companies who help sponsor FIRST Robotics will be an incredible learning experience for our students who earned this opportunity.

Thank you to all of the sponsors and community members who have assisted in raising money for entrance fees, travel, room and board, food, and the other various expenses associated with taking the team to Houston for a once in a lifetime experience competing in the FRC Worlds Championship.

If you would like to help support the Lawson Robotics Teams by donating, sponsoring, mentoring, or any other of the various options, please contact Robotics Coach Rodney Foster by email at fosterr@ lawsoncardinals.org.

Large Ensemble Festival

Select Choir has had an outstanding year with district honors. Following a very successful fall with 18 students selected for the Northwest AllDistrict Choir, Select Choir participated in the annual MSHSAA State Large Ensemble Festival on March 9 at Staley High School. They performed two prepared pieces: Mozart’s “Dies Irae” arranged by Liebergen and “We Are Held” by Missouri composer Susan LaBarr. A panel of three judges scored them on musical and technical components. They received 2 Outstanding and 1 Exemplary rating from these judges. Following their performance on stage, they entered the Sight Reading room where they were given a total of four minutes to study a piece of music before performing it twice for a judge. During this preparation period, students were not allowed to sing a single note of the song. Once the time was up, they were given starting pitches and had to perform the entire piece of music for the judge. Select Choir received an Exemplary rating from the Sight Reading judge. The combined scores resulted in an overall Exemplary Gold rating, which is the highest possible rating an ensemble can receive. This is the third time Select Choir has received this high honor since Mrs.