On Thursday 11th June, Medina College, along with several other schools, attended the finals of the First Tech Robotics Challenge at BAE Systems. This was the first time it had been held on the Isle of Wight. After months of planning, building, coding and refining, Medina Mekanix were ready for competition.

The competition first consisted of 5 qualifying rounds, in Team Alliances. We comfortably won, gaining the 'Finalist Alliance - Captain' award, and proceeded through to the finals. The finals were a three-match shoot-out, again in teams of two. Medina chose Lionheart for their Alliance, whilst St. Catherine's, the other finalist, chose Carisbrooke. It came down to a very tense final match, where, unfortunately, the Medina alliance lost by one point.

Despite this minor disappointment, the team were incredibly upbeat about the whole experience, but there was one last final surprise for them. Medina Mekanix won the final and biggest award of the day, the 'Inspire Award'. This was awarded to the team who excelled in all areas of the competition; machine and technical, team attributes, and an overall consistent performance. The Inspire award was awarded by the judging panel from First Tech robotics.

Huge thanks go to Miss Whitchurch for organising the whole experience, Mr Gray for supporting the whole team with building and coding, Kevin (Software Engineer) and David (Mechanical Engineer) from BAE Systems, who supported the club for every after-school session. Huge congratulations to every student member of the team. You were all outstanding ambassadors for our school and we are so proud!