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After a last-minute qualification, the CocoNuts took home the Engineering Inspiration Award at the FIRST Robotics world competition in April.

The CocoNuts, Coconino High Schools robotics team, qualified for regionals with the last announced award at their final regional competition of the season, only two weeks before the world championships.

They won the Impact Award at the Monterey Bay regionals in California, and advanced to the world championships and as one of 85 spots (out of 620 total teams at worlds) to compete for FIRSTs highest award: the worldwide Impact Award.

The CocoNuts pose with their Engineering Inspiration Award with the Houston skyline in the background.

The Impact Award, previously called the Chairmans Award, recognizes the teams that have most impacted their school and community. Three CocoNuts members developed a seven-minute presentation which they brought to last weeks Flagstaff Unified School Districts board meeting for this part of the competition.

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They then had to register for worlds, arrange travel plans and tune up their robot before driving 18 hours to Houston for the competition. The impact team was practicing their presentation and interview skills on the bus ride , said coach Christine Sapio.

In addition to the robot competition, students on the team had two interviews about their robot and their team.

Its an incredibly life-changing experience for those kids, Sapio said of the championships. About half of them have never been to worlds, and you can just tell they were incredibly blown away and energized. They came back with new ideas, because they get to meet those amazing teams and everything. Theyre coming back with amazing ideas and new goals and new things they really want to do.

The team won the Engineering Inspiration Award at worlds this year an award that recognizes teams for advancing respect for engineering and STEM in their respective community. The team leads STEM fairs at Leupp and Killip elementary schools, and have traveled to Monument Valley High School in Kayenta to participate in another STEM fair.

They also mentor local teams and put on the Arizona FIRST Tech Challenge.

These efforts continue all year.

CocoNuts team members react to winning the Engineering Inspiration Award at the FIRST Robotics world competition in April in Houston.

The week after winning the competition, the team had a booth at the Flagstaff STEM Celebration and traveled to the Arizona State Capitol to raise awareness for robotics programs.

Their enthusiasm for what they do its infectious, Sapio said.

Winning the Engineering Inspiration Award means that, for the first time, the CocoNuts are one of 18 teams that automatically qualified for next years world competition.

That doesnt mean the team will be slowing down, Sapio said.

They are already making plans to attend a national advocacy conference in June, and the teams builders and drivers are testing ideas for next years robot.

Their goal for next year, she said, is to make as many wildcards as possible.

In robotics competitions, a wildcard happens when a team that has already qualified for worlds wins a qualifying competition or an award. This then allows a different team to qualify in their place. For example, if the CocoNuts were to win an Impact Award at next years regionals, the team would then create a wildcard team rather than qualifying twice.

Their new goal is to not stop, not rest on that accomplishment or anything, she said. ... To still keep that drive and that passion and continue to grow and continue to become a better team and to really continue building that passion and building that impact so that even though were already qualified that we would still work towards being one of those teams thats worthy of recognition again.

This panorama photograph of the FIRST Robotics world competition in April shows where Coconino High School's team, the CocoNuts, won the Engineering Inspiration Award.

The CocoNuts have so far qualified for worlds every year that theyve competed. This is the first year, however, the team has earned an automatic qualification.

That means more pressure in some ways.

There are a lot of really competitive and excellent teams that dont make it in every year, and so to be able to say we made it every year, its a really rare thing, Sapio said, adding that she was thankful for the community support in Flagstaff. Its a lot of hard work, and its a real testament to the passion and the dedication of these kids, because as weve gone further and further in this program there are more and more teams that are just doing incredible things that deserve recognition.

A recording of the CocoNuts presentation to FUSDs board is available online beginning at about one hour and 45 minutes. More about the CocoNuts, including ways to make a tax credit donation to the team, can be found at fusd1.org.

The CocoNuts pose for a photo immediately after winning the Engineering Inspiration Award at the FIRST Robotics world competition in April in Houston.

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CocoNuts win Engineering Inspiration Award at robotics world ... - Arizona Daily Sun