Awards and Certifications From November 2

Pontiac High School Takes First Place At Robotics Competition: It's the Wall Ball Fall! The second competition of the Oakland County Competitive Robotics Association was held Thursday, Oct. 28 at Roeper Upper School in Birmingham. OCCRA's 20 teams, representing 23 high schools and one Oakland Schools Technical Campus, played their second Wall Ball Fall Up & Over game of the season. OCCRA robots place 10-inch playground balls onto the opponents' playing field. Teams also score points by allowing their robots to hang from steel bars on the game field. The tournament structure randomly pairs robots from two different schools in an "alliance" against two robots from an opposing alliance. Teams from Birmingham Seaholm/Groves, Brandon, Brother Rice and Marian High Schools, Clawson, Detroit Catholic Central, North Farmington, Holly, International Academy, Lamphere, Notre Dame Prep, Oakland Schools Technical Campus Northeast, Orchard Lake St. Mary's Prep, Pontiac, Rochester Adams/Stoney Creek, Roeper School, Royal Oak, South Lyon, University High School Academy of Southfield, Walled Lake Northern, and Waterford Kettering competed in the second tournament of the season. Awards were presented to: First Place – Top Score 127 Points: Team 51 Pontiac High School; Second Place – Score 119 Points: Team 245 Rochester Adams/Stoney Creek High School; Third Place – Score 112 Points: Team 33 Notre Dame Prep; Beautiful Bot Award: Team 255 Lamphere High School; Spirit of the Competition Award: Team 245 Rochester Adams/Stoney Creek High School; Technical Excellence Award: Team 573 Brother Rice and Marian High School; Strategic Design Award: Team 43 Holly High School; Quality Award: Team 51 Pontiac High School; Judge's Awards: Team 1 Oakland Schools Technical Campus Northeast and Team 2960 Birmingham Groves/Seaholm High Schools; and the Vez Award: Team 17 North Farmington High School. This is a full contact robotics competition, where students control their 120 pound creations as they clash on the court of play. OCCRA robots play rough and some damage will surely occur but, unlike "Battlebots," the rules prohibit teams from intentionally damaging another machine. In addition to the large robots, teams also use smaller VEX robots for part of the game. All OCCRA tournaments are free and open to the public. Remaining competition dates and sites this year include: Saturday, Nov. 6, Diversity Showcase Tournament – Royal Oak High School, 9 a.m.; Thursday, Nov. 11, Birmingham Tournament – Birmingham Seaholm High School, 6 p.m.; and Saturday, Nov. 20, County Championship – Holly High School, 9 a.m. OCCRA is administered by Oakland Schools and supported by the Oakland Schools Education Foundation. This assistance is made possible through the generosity and support of area businesses and individuals. Current corporate sponsors include: DTE Energy Foundation, Chrysler, Delphi Automotive Systems, Denso International America, Inc., General Motors Powertrain, and SMC Pneumatics. For more information on OCCRA, please contact Terri Kroll, OCCRA Coordinator, Oakland Schools at (248) 209-2432. You can also get more information on OCCRA by visiting the OCCRA website at www.oakland.k12.mi.us/Default.aspx?tabid=535.

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