SJR Recognition Night 2024

SJR Recognition Night 2024

2024 SJR Recognition Night was held Friday, April 12th at Salem Community College.

South Jersey Robotics (SJR) celebrated teams in FIRST LEGO league Explore, FIRST LEGO League Challenge, and FIRST Tech Challenge as they all wrapped up their season and we were all excited to congratulate them on their extraordinary efforts.

Each student on a SJR FIRST team made significant strides in their personal development by building a strong foundation of STEM skill sets that will prepare them for their future!

SJR recognized over 100 students for their individual performance. In addition, awards were presented to all SJR teams for their outstanding achievements and key mentors for their extraordinary efforts in providing STEM to their community.

2024 Trail Blazer Award to Jason Holmstrom
Martin Luther King, Jr School Complex in Atlantic City oversees two FLL Challenge teamsIn recognition of his dedication to promoting STEM equity at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School

2024 Vanguard Award to Joseph Costello
Atlantic City High School, Director of STEM oversees two FTC teams For advancing STEM education in Atlantic County

2024 Influential Mentor Award to Ben Griffith
Penns Grove Middle School Tripled Wire, volunteers in Soup Kitchen and to take elderly grocery shopping

Youth Mentor Award to FTC Team 9848 Gearview
For mentoring our SJR FTC teams with countless hours and supplies.  There are individuals who selflessly give of themselves, serving as role models who exceed the expectations laid before them, and who work tirelessly for the betterment of others. As ordinary students, you have had extraordinary impact among your peers. SJR is pleased to announce that you have been selected as recipients of the 2024 Youth Mentor Award for your dedication to students across multiple counties in the FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST LEGO League Challenge programs.

FLL EXPLORE TEAMS

# 26326 Axel Hackers, SCC Community Team
Coaches: Sylvia O’Neill and Erin Thomas
Competition Highlight: Coding Excellence Award

# 26325 Technological Turtles, SCC Community Team
Coaches: Laura Kirk and Brian Criscuolo
Competition Highlight: Explosive Ideas Award and Take a Byte Out of Hunger Award

FLL CHALLENGE TEAMS

 # 56709 We Come In Pieces, Swedesboro Community Team
Coaches: Jessie Wright, Cristie Clark
Competition Highlight: The Robot Design Award; advanced to the Southern NJ District Championship

The 2024 SJR Outstanding Contribution Award goes to Team #  56709  We Come In Pieces. This award recognizes a team who exhibits commitment to academic integrity, and who understands the value of student discovery and application of learned knowledge. This team has many parts, but they sure know how to come together. At the Salem Robot Rumble Qualifier they wowed the Judges and were awarded 1st Place in Robot Design. Their Innovation Project focused on creating a platform for Artists to share the inspiration for their work through immersive technology. Their ranking within the district qualified them to advance to the Southern NJ District Championship at Rowan University.

# 18249 LUNATECS In Training – LIT, Mullica Hill Community Team
Coach: Matt Bowen and Andy Hak
Competition Highlight: Advanced to Regionals at Rowan University and received the Engineering Excellence Award

The 2024 SJR Pinnacle Award goes to team # 18249 LUNATECS In Training, AKA LIT!
This award is given to promote, recognize and reward outstanding student presenters. It celebrates a team who delivers inspiring and effective presentations with impact, as confident and engaging speakers. It’s precisely those skills that helped advance them to the FIRST World Championship in 2023. Their app, ArtVenture, makes a trip to the museum interactive and fun using games, trivia, scavenger hunts, and a component where app users can compete in these against one another, and helped advance this veteran team to the District Championship for the 2nd year in a row. We have no doubt the 21st century skills they developed through the Challenge program will be assets to the businesses they work for in the future.

# 56708 ARTiFISHal Intelligence, SCC Community Team
Coaches: Kyrstle Mullen and Kelsey Scarfo

The 2024 SJR Academic Integrity Award goes to Team #  56708 ARTiFISHal Intelligence
This award recognizes a team who exhibits commitment to academic integrity, and who understands the value of student discovery and application of learned knowledge. This team partnered with Beep Baseball, a baseball association for the visually impaired. Did you know that they have baseballs that beep so the hitter can tell when the ball is coming? And did you know they have bases that vibrate? But what about youth and adults who want to pitch the ball? This team invented Strike Out. Using optical sensors that set off a particular sound to indicate high, low, left, or right, a pitcher can improve the accuracy of their pitch. The team attended the Salem Qualifier with a prototype that wowed the judges who awarded them 1st Place in the Innovation Project.

# 18251 Mastery’s Lego Lions, Camden School
Coach: Dawn Wolfson
The 2024 SJR No Boundaries, No Limits Award goes to team # 18251 Mastery LEGO Lions. This team Mastered the understanding that Discovery is the direction toward success. This team’s project focused on tactile paint for the visually impaired who lack color perception. The result of their research showed that visually impaired people could significantly distinguish and recognize the variation of color by distinguishing textures. Students on this team had never been to a Qualifying event until this past January. At the Qualifier, Judges and Referees roared about how the team engaged in real-world learning through their project, Paint It!

# 18254 Organized Chaos, Penns Grove School
Coordinator: Abner Mendoza
The 2024 SJR Ignite Award goes to team #  18254 Organized Chaos. This award recognizes a team who has Organized creative networks within their school and community. We all know a robotics season can be chaotic, but these team members demonstrated steady success through strong talent, peer role modeling, and community engagement. Their Innovation Project taught youth how to play chess using holographic technology designed within the chessboard itself. In chess, as in real life, this team knows it’s not about the mistakes you make, but how you learn from them, and they ignite a passion for learning wherever they go!

# 6361 Sandy Squirrels, Atlantic City School
Coach: Jason Holmstrom
The 2024 SJR Rising Star Award goes to Team #  6361 Sandy Squirrels. This award recognizes a team that is an emerging leader, and whose accomplishments this season reflect ongoing and exceptional growth within the robot game and Innovation project. The FIRST community went nuts over their Innovation Project, which impacted wheelchair athletics. These students developed a robotic teaching tool they called the BasketBot Instructional Handset. This innovative device imparts the fundamental skills of dribbling, passing, and shooting to individuals with hemiplegia. Their design incorporates a battery powered pneumatic based component that will assist in teaching neuromuscular control through proper hand placement. The Sands of time have shown this rookie team’s extraordinary progress and we look forward to what they will bring to the table next season! 

# 18731 Black Panthers, Atlantic City School
Coach: Jason Holmstrom
The 2024 SJR Young Innovator’s Award goes to Team #  18731 Black Panthers. This award recognizes and supports outstanding young leaders who have made significant impact through teamwork and innovation. The research for their project this season led to the development of groundbreaking body scan suit designs that would detect existing athletic injuries, predict future injuries, and aid in injury recovery through identification of irregularities in joint movement, flexibility, and motion using surface mechanomyography sensors to track and measure the physical force exerted during muscle contractions. Their fundamental understanding of their research and project shows exceptional promise in the areas of science and engineering.

FTC Teams  

Team # 24125 The Valks, and Team # 24126 The Vikes, Atlantic City School
Coach: Tierra Terry, Frank Calletta, Jennifer Off
Coordinator: Joseph Costello

Competition Highlight: Promote Award (NJ State Championship) and Innovate Award (Deep South Conference Tournament)

The 2024 SJR Engineering Achievement Award to team 24126 The Vikes! Throughout the season this rookie team was recognized for having the highest score of an alliance, twice. Most recently, at the FTC Deep South Conference, they were presented with the Innovate Award, sponsored by Raytheon Technologies Corporation, a prominent, American, multinational, aerospace and defense conglomerate. With a total of four awards since September, their accomplishments at the Deep South Conference earned them a spot among the six teams which advanced to the NJ FTC State Championship.

# 13583 Tripled Wire, Penns Grove School
Coach: Ben Griffith
Coordinator: Abner Mendoza
The 2024 SJR Honoring Excellence Award goes to FTC Team # 13583 Team Tripled Wire. This award celebrates students’ hard work and accomplishments, and honors students who have overcome tremendous adversity, demonstrated academic excellence, and given back to their community. Despite being some of the youngest students to compete in the FIRST Tech Challenge NJ District, they were shining examples of gracious professionalism. In celebrating their victories while learning from their defeats they remind us that through participation in this program each one of us is constantly making steady progress and is full of great ideas.