On Feb. 1, West Babylon Senior High School’s  “Team Pandemonium!” robotics team competed in their last qualifier tournament of the 2020 FIRST Robotics Tech Challenge season. Every year, teams from all across Long Island battle it out in a series of qualifying tournaments for the chance to participate in the Long Island Championships. 

In their first qualifier on Jan. 12, the team finished in 16th place out of 24 teams. With only a few weeks in between qualifiers, students and coaches worked hard to improve on all aspects of their gameplay. 

After a long 11 hour day of robot inspections, judging interviews, 30+ rounds of matches, the West Babylon team finished in third place out of 26 teams. “Although we placed near the top, it wasn’t good enough to continue on to this year’s championships,” said teacher Gerard DeSimone. “While still a little disappointed about the championships we did succeed in achieving many of our teams yearly core goals. Those goals included reaching the elimination rounds, a top 4 finish, representing West Babylon in a positive way, and to giving our students a unique and special experience that they will value for the rest of their lives. “