A group of Xavier students participated in a sport for the mind and made Xavier history while doing it. The Xavier robotics team, Xcentrics, had one of their best seasons in recent history, making it to the Iowa State Championship meet.They placed in the top 15 teams in their division. The team has 17 members, which is the highest number they have had in the past four years. Students started preparing for the season in early September and finished off at state in late February.

The season started out with five league meets, where just a few schools competed. The teams then competed in a league championship, where Xavier and only a few other teams advanced to the Super Qualifier Championship meet. The team then qualified for the Iowa Championship meet, the furthest they have made it since Xavier math teacher Stacy Mickelson started coaching the team four years ago.

“My favorite part about robotics is watching the students grow, particularly in terms of dealing with stress,” Mickelson said. “During competitions, there is never enough time to make your robot perfect, and sometimes there are just a few moments to fix a broken part of the robot before your next match begins. I love watching how good students become at dealing with this stress over time as they eventually learn to work together efficiently.”

Junior Lauren Korbel was chosen as a FIRST Tech Challenge Dean’s List Award Finalist. The award is beyond the state and national level, and is offered for the top student leaders in the program. The finalists get the opportunity to attend a luncheon with Dean Kamen, the founder of the FIRST Tech and Lego League programs.

“It is really rewarding to see our team’s hard work pay off when we do well at competitions,” Korbel said. “I enjoy seeing other unique robots at competitions and being able to learn from other teams. The atmosphere of coopetition at competitions is really unique, teams can help each other as well as compete.”

The Xavier robotics team will start up again next fall and hopes to once again exceed expectations.

Noah Lynch

News Editor