The Fountain Hills High School robotics club has qualified for its fourth consecutive trip to the VEX World’s Robotics Competition, and the local students could use some help to make it to the event held from April 15-18 in Louisville, Ky.

Advisor Dr. Paul McElligott estimates that it will cost about $10,000 to send the 5-6 students who will represent the Falcons at the big event, with fundraising currently under way.

For those interested in getting involved, contact McElligott at pmcelligott@fhusd.org. Anyone wishing to make a donation may make it out to “FHUSD” care of the “Robotics Club.” Donations may be dropped off at the high school front office. Arizona and federal tax credit donations are also an option.

In order to receive an invite to World’s, though, the local team first had to perform well at the state competition, which they recently did.

Just under 70 teams took part in this year’s state event, with Fountain Hills sending two robots into the fray. Teams were 1471A and 1471B, run by students Andrew Cooper, Wyatt Carlowe, Cameron Ribail, Katie McErlean, John Kelly, Hector Tucto, Brenden Tjeerdsma, William Turner and Conner Nelson.

McElligott said that the 1471A robot bounced around the standings, moving between first and 15th as the competition went on.

“The 1471B robot was also a good, competitive robot and was fairly consistent in the overall ranking in the thirties position,” Dr. McElligott added.

“At the end of the almost 80-round [competition], Fountain Hills ended up with 15th place for A and 40th place for B.”

The 1471A robot was chosen for the final alliances, going on to win in the quarterfinals before finally being defeated in the semifinals.

Additional awards were later announced, with 1471A receiving the Design Award for its solid performance and the team’s knowledge of their bot. This award granted Fountain Hills its fourth consecutive invitation to take part in the World’s Competition.