Team 12595 “Powered by Pushups,” a co-ed team comprised of seventh and eighth grade students from Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School in the City of Falls Church will compete this Saturday. Dec. 2 in the Northern Virginia Qualifying Event at Battlefield High School in Haymarket. Competing in their Rookie Season with a robot built and programmed in less than 60 days, the team hopes to contribute scoring points to their alliance in both the autonomous and tele-operated portions of the 150-second game challenge.

All robots must fit inside an 18-inch cube to start. Head Coach Lambert Lam and Technical Mentor Mike Winters have inspired this team of eight to design, build, program, and test their robot to meet in-game challenge objectives. While learning some basic engineering principles, they have taken advantage of workshops presented by experienced teams beginning with the kickoff/game reveal in September and a scrimmage event and workshop the weekend before Thanksgiving. They have spent many hours in the tech ed room at MEHMS and on the practice field hosted by GMHS Robotics.