By Thereasa Rasmussen
In spite of major flooding and road closures, the Weiser Robotics team held a VEX Robotics competition in the auxiliary gym at the high school Friday, February 10th. This year has been rough on the surrounding robotics teams; with weather issues and school closures it has limited competitions in the area. Even Weiser had to cancel their original event and reschedule.
Weiser’s competition hosted 38 teams and 11 schools, including, Weiser, Caldwell, Vale, Ridgevue, Nampa, Vallivue, Wood River, Kuna, Eagle, Boise, and Meridian. In response to the Weiser event Jon Lundberg stated, “The WHS Robotic program made history on Friday by hosting the largest robotic event in Idaho and the competition ran ahead of schedule.
In order to make these two things happen together you need a lot of good help. I am proud of my students and volunteers who worked hard to make this such a success. Even though our teams didn’t bring home any hardware, our Weiser students competed well and represented our school and community in an outstanding fashion.”
Even with no “hardware” going to Weiser, all five teams were upbeat and just happy to be competing. This was evident by the smiling faces, laughter, and team 9551B’s robot toting a sign that advertised free hugs to anyone who wanted a hug from their robot. When asked what they like best about robotics their answers were all about the experience. Team 9551B‘s Sammi Wilcox and the only female WHS Robotics member, stated her favorite part of robotics is working with 
her team. While her team mates Colton Burr and Nathan Rasmussen agreed that building the robot and coming up with ideas to solve problems were their favorite parts. 9551D’s team and senior member Logan Towner is the longest running member of the robotics program at WHS, participating all four years of his high school career. Logan told us that, “I like building, I like electricity, and I like the programming. I want to be an engineer in college.” Some 
robotics members are all about the fun and food, “Pizza at every competition!” is the favorite part of robotics for 9551E’s team member Kale Poynor.
The WHS Robotics will move on to State with three out of the five teams competing. State will be held Friday, February 24th at Wood River High School in Hailey, 
Idaho. The three teams competing at State are:
Team 9551A Michael Brooke, Devin Pohl, and Trevor Tincher
Team 9551B Colton Burr, Nathan Rasmussen, and Sammi Wilcox
Team 9551C Brenden Hubele, Chris Thein, Chris Jones, and Braden Salove-Hale
