The First Tech Challenge (FTC) is an advanced robotics program at Heritage Middle School. FTC is a competition series of events for middle school and high school students. There are four meets throughout the fall and winter months with an opportunity for advancement beyond.  

Heritage Middle School took three teams of five students to the first FTC meet of the season in Floydada. Each team designed and built their own robot which met specific design criteria and programming.  

At the competition, each team is partnered with an alliance during 2:30 minute matches. They compete through a series of obstacles to deliver items to certain areas of the playing field for points. At each meet, the teams compete for a total of five matches and the teams are ranked by their win/loss records over the season.   

“The students take away a sense of pride and accomplishment with their robots,” said Kim Thomson, one of the robotics coaches at HMS. “A lot of skills in robotics are learned through trial and error and tenacity. We are amazed at our students and their dedication to improve from week to week.” 

The HMS teams performed well at the first competition of the season. The next meet will be held at Lubbock-Cooper Middle School on December 3. The robotics students meet every Tuesday and Thursday after school to prepare for their upcoming competitions. 

Good luck Tigers!